Barbarians

Angel Diaz was a convicted murderer executed by lethal injection in Florida a couple of days ago, needing a second dose of drugs and taking 34 minutes to die.

The Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger and Governor Jeb Bush excused the horrific incident as being due to Diaz having liver disease. That was news to Diaz' family.

Plessinger said Diaz had liver disease, which had made the second dose necessary. However, she did not believe he felt any pain.

"It was not unanticipated," Ms Plessinger said. "The metabolism of the drugs to the liver isslowed."

Diaz's cousin Maria Otero said the family was not aware he suffered from liver disease. "Why a stupid second dose?" Ms Otero asked.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the Department of Corrections followed all proper procedures. "A pre-existing medical condition of the inmate was the reason tonight's procedure took longer than recent procedures carried out this year," he said.

Well, it turns out the reason the liver disease was news to Diaz' family was because the story was bullshit.

The real reason for the man's prolonged death is because the injection of the lethal cocktail went through the vein and into the soft tissue.

Diaz appeared to be moving 24 minutes after the first injection, grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and appearing to mouth words.

As a result of the chemicals going into Diaz's arms around the elbow, he had an 12-inch chemical burn on his right arm and an 11-inch chemical burn on his left arm [the medical examiner] said.