‘INHUMANE PAIN AND SUFFERING’ FACING RAPIST-MURDERER

Attorneys for Michael Taylor, scheduled to be put to death Wednesday, have files a last minute appeal challenging the use of pentobarbital that was obtained from a compounding pharmacy for his execution

In March 1989, while she was waiting for a school bus in Kansas City, Mo., Ann Harrison, 15, was forced into a stolen car by Michael Taylor and Roderick Nunley. After Taylor raped her, the two African-American gentlemen tied the white teen up in the trunk of the stolen car. Harrison begged for her life, but the two scumbags each grabbed a knife and stabbed her 10 times. The medical examiner testified that it took about half an hour for the teen to die after she had been stabbed.

Taylor and Nunley were sentenced to death in 1991. After their sentences were overturned, they were resentenced to death in 1994.

Taylor is due to be executed Wednesday. The state of Missouri was going to obtain the lethal dose of pentobarbital from the Apothecary Shoppe, a compounding pharmacy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But when it became known that the pharmacy was going to supply the lethal drug, it refused to do so. The state has found another supplier and is trying to keep its identity secret.

Naturally, his attorneys have filed a last minute appeal, arguing that the use of pentobarbital supplied by a compounding pharmacy would cause Taylor ‘severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain’ in violation of constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

The controversy over the use of pentobarbital has thoroughly pissed off Ann Harrison’s family and friends, especially since the 25th anniversary of her murder is approaching. They are furious that all the attention is being given to Taylor’s possible suffering, while hardly anyone seems to care about the teen girl's murder.

I agree with Harrison’s family and friends. Although there is no evidence that Taylor will suffer any discomfort during his execution, I hope he does experience some pain and suffering – actually a lot of it! After all, his 15-year-old victim experienced considerable pain and suffering while she was being raped and then stabbed 10 times.