On March 25, 1997, Pedro Medina was executed at Florida State Prison by means of electrocution. During the execution process, flames appeared from under the hood covering the head and smoke filled the chamber. Due to this apparent malfunctioning, the Florida Corrections Commission reviewed the method(s) of execution used by Florida and other states and recorded the problems encountered with these methods.
Following the execution, the Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of the proceedings (Investigation # 97-20953) and determined that the most likely cause of the problem was a corroded copper screen located inside the execution headpiece. Governor Lawton Chiles requested an independent review of the events and hired two experts: Michael Morse, an electrical engineering professor at the University of San Diego, and Jay Wiechert, an electric-chair consultant from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Their findings contradicted the department's findings and found that one of the two sponges located inside the execution headpiece was dry and had not been soaked in a saline solution. This reduced the flow of electricity which heated the wet sponge and consequently caused the dry sponge to catch on fire. Appendix A contains the reports submitted by Mr. Morse and Mr. Wiechert. It should be noted that the four pathologists assigned to conduct an autopsy of Pedro Medina stated that he was killed instantly from the electrocution and prior to the onset of the fire.
This malfunctioning has effected other Florida scheduled executions. Leo Jones' execution, scheduled for April 18, 1997, was stayed pending a hearing and ruling in circuit court of Judge A.C. Soud on the issue of Florida's electric chair's effectiveness. Although Judge Soud ruled on April 21, 1997, that the electric chair is not "cruel and unusual punishment" and that the malfunctioning was due to "unintentional human error," the Florida Supreme Court granted an indefinite stay pending a hearing in that court on May 6, 1997, to hear arguments over Judge Soud's ruling. The Florida Supreme Court subsequently granted Gerald Stano, who was scheduled to be executed on April 29, a stay until at least May 30, pending the results of the May 6 hearing.
In May the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new hearing because information related to the state's execution protocol was not heard at the April trial, and the trial did not allow sufficient time to hear experts for the defense which would have countered the state experts' testimony concerning Medina's execution. The new hearing will be conducted in July, again by Judge Soud, and will return to the Florida Supreme Court in September. Leo Jones won a stay until at least September 15. The Florida Supreme Court also ordered that Leo Jones' experts be allowed to examine the state's electrocution equipment, and that they also be allowed to view the testing of the equipment by prison officials. The test will be conducted on June 30.
Appendix B contains a number of editorials published in Florida's newspapers regarding Florida's execution method.
Florida Corrections Commission