DeLaney: This is Indiana’s chance to prove that we are reasonable and decent

Last week, a failed execution attempt in Tennessee resulted in a death row inmate surviving two doses of the lethal injection. Despite surviving the attempt, the inmate remains hospitalized in critical condition. In response, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee paused all executions pending an investigation into the botched attempt. 

Despite using the same lethal injection protocol as Tennessee, the Indiana Department of Correction says it intends to proceed with the scheduled Nov. 5 execution of Jeffrey Weisheit.

State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) released the following statement:

“How can anyone trust that next month’s execution will go any more smoothly than the failed attempt in Tennessee last week? I can't wrap my head around the idea that we’re planning to use a failed procedure to take someone’s life, when many of our people doubt that we should even engage in capital punishment at all. 

“Indiana’s execution process lives under a cloak of secrecy. The state won’t say who supplies the execution drugs, even after spending more than $1 million on them. IDOC won't explain how its execution team is trained or what safeguards are in place. Members of the media can’t even witness an execution unless the inmate invites them. If the state is going to put people to death, Hoosiers deserve full transparency about how it's done.

“The absolute least Gov. Braun can do is follow Gov. Lee’s lead and pause executions until we know what went wrong in Tennessee and whether the same failure could happen here.

“This is Indiana’s chance to show that we are reasonable and decent. We shouldn’t need a failed execution of our own to learn that lesson.”