Botched Gassings

Jimmy Lee Gray Mississippi - September 2nd. 1983.

Eight minutes after the gas had been released officials cleared the witnesses from the viewing area as Gray continued to convulse. He is reported to have gasped eleven times during this period. Jimmy Lee Gray died banging his head against the steel pole behind the chair.

Donald Eugene Harding Arizona - April 6th. 1992.

At 12:18. the sodium cyanide pellets dropped into the vat beneath Harding's chair containing six quarts of distilled water and six pints of sulfuric acid. Cameron Harper, a reporter for KTVK-TV said, "I watched Harding go into violent spasms for 57 seconds. Then he began to convulse less frequently. His back muscles rippled. The spasms grew less violent. I timed them as ending six minutes and 37 seconds after they began. His head went down in little jerking motions. Obviously, the gentlemen was suffering. This was a violent death, make no mistake about it." Harper went on, "It was an ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely. This was not a clean and simple death". Another Witness, Carla McClain, a reporter for the Tucson Citizen said, "Harding's death was extremely violent. He was in great pain. I heard him gasp and moan. I saw his body turn from red to purple."

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