Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Family decries botched execution

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 23, 2006

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Puerto Rican man whose botched execution in Florida renewed opposition to the death penalty in the United States and this island territory was buried Friday in a ceremony attended by about 100 people.

Angel Nieves Diaz, a career criminal condemned for killing a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago, was given a second dose of deadly chemicals as he took more than half an hour to die on Dec. 13.

At the funeral in suburban Rio Piedras, family members said they hoped the case's notoriety would boost the international campaign against capital punishment.

"God chose my uncle to change history," said Jackeline Nieves. "Now the death penalty isn't seen as something normal. It's seen as the worst, most inhumane method."

Family and friends wore two colored ribbons : one black, to symbolize their mourning, and the other orange, in tribute to the prison uniform Diaz wore during more than two decades on death row.

Medical experts said the 55-year-old convict could have experienced severe pain as needles that were supposed to inject drugs into his veins were instead pushed all the way through the blood vessels into surrounding soft tissue.

The case led Gov. Jeb Bush to suspend all executions as a commission examines its lethal injection process. Bush said he wants to ensure it does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 06:15:33]