Nebraska court rules electric chair unconstitutional

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the electric chair, the only method used for executions in the state, violated human dignity and was therefore unconstitutional.

Confirming the death penalty imposed on Raymond Mata in 2000 for the murder of a three-year-old boy, the court said however that he should not be electrocuted.

"Electrocution's proven history of burning and charring bodies is inconsistent with both the concepts of evolving standards of decency and the dignity of man," the court said in its unanimous decision.

Electrocution "has proven itself to be a dinosaur more befitting the laboratory of Baron Frankenstein than the death chamber," it added, quoting from a 1999 ruling by a Florida judge.

Nebraska authorities...