US News
Florida governor launches investigation into 34-minute execution
By DPA
Dec 15, 2006, 19:01 GMT

Washington - Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Friday launched an investigation into the gruesome, 34-minute-long execution of a prisoner, which has renewed calls for a halt to the death penalty in the state.

It should have taken only a few minutes for 55-year-old Angel Nieves Diaz to fall unconscious after being administered with a lethal injection Wednesday, but instead fought off death for a full 34 minutes, The Miami Herald reported.

Bush has asked the state's Department of Corrections to investigate the execution, calling it 'appropriate to do so given the unusual length of time it took for the process to be complete,' according to the Herald.

An emergency petition was filed to Florida's Supreme Court Thursday on behalf of other inmates on Death Row, seeking that executions by lethal injection be halted because they violate the state's constitution, which protects against 'cruel and unusual punishment.'

The court declined to halt executions but sent the case to a lower court to be considered.

Diaz was sentenced to death 27 years ago for the murder of a Miami topless bar manager. An appeal of his death sentence, based on the cruelty of lethal injections, was denied by the US Supreme Court.