, the case could be considered unjust. A trial could also be considered unfair if either the plaintiff or defendant receives too much sympathy from the public, media, or jury. Eleven of thirty-eight states have passed legislation to prohibit capital punishment of those individuals who are mentally retarded (Bishop 4). In 1992, Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, refused to halt the execution of a mentally retarded man. Clinton wanted to prove to the country that he was not soft on crime (4). Ricky Ray Rector received brain damage during a botched lobotomy. At the time of the murder and his execution, he was severely retarded. His capital punishment was to die by lethal injection. In this process, an I.V. is inserted into a vein in the arm of the convict. Anesthetic is then released into the prisoner's bloodstream. Within minutes, the convict is asleep and will not feel anything else, but he is still alive. The anesthetic then stops the prisoner's breathing. Potassium Chloride is released into the bloodstream, and this chemical stops the convict's heart. This is the most humane way for capital punishment to be enforced. Sometimes, however, this punishment is not as humane as it may seem. For Ricky Rector, the process was more agonizing than expected. The medical team performing the execution could not find a vein big enough to hold the I.V. After 50 minutes of searching, Rector could not maintain his control. He knew he was going to die so he decided to quicken the process. He began to flex and loosen his muscles so the blood would run faster and the veins would become bigger. A vein finally appeared, and he was executed within minutes (4). This does not happen often, but when executions do not happen as planned, does it really matter? The convicts are being killed for a crime they committed. If they did not want to be executed, they should not have committed the crime. This lesson should teach people to think before they act. One o...
