To Keep Texas' Death Penalty Humane, The Press Must Bear Witness

DALLAS, TX —Who wants to see an execution?

Not many people who consider themselves civilized, that's who. Still, it's the responsibility of a free press to hold government accountable for its actions, and that was thwarted in Texas this week.

An execution represents a moment of truth for the Fourth Estate (that being the press), and a moment for the state in its commitment to justice. Wednesday, it also meant the last moment in the life of a condemned and convicted murderer named Quentin Jones, who killed his great-aunt in 1999. Jones was 41.

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It also marked the first time in 10 months the Lone Star State has imposed the ultimate penalty, death, and the longest span between executions since 1984 in what has become America's "busiest death chamber."

According to Jeremy Desel, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the exclusion of media was an oversight and resulted from a lack of appropriate communication between officials at the prison.

Before Wednesday's execution, typical protocol would have seen Desel first call the prison press office and then escort members of the media to the death chamber. It didn't happen, and Desel said later that an internal investigation was launched to figure out where the lines of communication broke down.

By Thursday, no one was talking and no one still knows what actually happened.

Watching someone die isn't many people's idea of a good time. But so long as state-sanctioned killing of individuals is the law of the land, the worst offender has a right in America to be put down in a humane manner. Otherwise, the state is admitting that it does what the murderer did: intentionally cause suffering while ending a person's life.

When the members of the press (most often The Associated Press and the local paper in Huntsville, where the prison is located) attend an execution, they're witnessing what Texas law calls an administration of justice. They can report the condemned's last words and convey the human body's response to lethal injection. They can also record in words how the victim's family reacted, as well as the responses of witnesses attending on behalf of the condemned inmate.

Sometimes such reports lead to accusations of "cruel and unusual punishment" and pushes for reform if not abolition of the death penalty entirely. Texas, after testing its lethal drugs for potency, has a history of pushed their expiration dates. After all, what's the worst that can happen?

Well, the worst is that, while they still do their work, they can make the transition from living to dead excruciating. It's the duty of the media to ensure that the state is delivering on its promise to execute the sentence according to law.

No one knows for sure where the old saying, "it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it" comes from, but the phrase certainly fits here. And Texas needs to be transparent about how it legally puts people to death.

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