The Fatal State of the Death Penalty System In 1997, the state of Florida failed to execute Pedro Medina. When the switch was flipped on the 50-year-old electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky," the mask covering Medina's face caught fire. It inflames up to a foot of his face for 6-10 seconds. Thick, black smoke filled the room and prison guards closed the curtain, hiding the rest of the work from shocked witnesses. Bob Butterworth, then Florida's attorney general, said Medina's heartbreaking death would be a deterrent to crime. People who want to commit murder, he said, are better off not doing it in Florida because "we might have a problem with our electric chair." Such cases are likely to horrify both supporters and enemies of the death penalty. (After another botched execution in 1999, this time by the new electric chair, Florida gave inmates the option of lethal injection or the chair.) What is even more abhorrent than these clear examples of “cruel and unusual punishment,” however, is the growing evidence that many people convicted of murder, sent to death row, and possibly even executed in the United States are simply not guilty. The only way to reasonably evaluate the system without running the risk of executing more innocents in the process is for Congress to issue an immediate national moratorium on executions. On January 31, 2000, Governor George Ryan (R-IL) imposed the death penalty. supporter, announced a moratorium on executions in his state until the system is investigated. Governor Ryan had more than enough reason to say that Illinois' criminal justice system is "riddled with errors": since 1977, when Illinois reinstated the death penalty (following a 1976 Supreme Court ruling which allows states to make... out of paper... 16,000, dating back five years." While rapists can be fed from prison if DNA evidence exonerates them, executions are irrevocable. Given the problems in the databases state and national DNA tests, it is crucial that those on death row have more time to explore any evidence that might exonerate them. Governor George W. Bush of Texas (where 463 people are on death row) claims to be Of course, every one of the more than 100 executed during his time in office is guilty. The fact that Texas has no public defense system and that Bush has spent much of the past year campaigning outside the state has not affected his conviction. Bush's certainty for those who, regardless of their position on the death penalty, would like to take the time to examine the evidence and aim for a higher standard, state and national moratoriums are currently the best course of action.