In 1984, Alpha Otis Stephens was put to death by the electric chair only things went wrong. The state of Georgia made a secret audio recording that was released years later
There’s confusion in the comments about whether or not this execution was “botched”. A botched execution most often does still result in death. It means that it strayed from the protocol or there was a breakdown in the procedure. Because it took 2 extra rounds, this definitely went wrong.
Wtf do you mean "and"? And the execution was botched. She's responding to the notion that it wasn't botched and you barreled into the room Kool-aid man style with this stupid, utterly irrelevant comment. The execution did not proceed like it was supposed to, therefore it was botched. Reading comprehension is key, rube.
Roy Asbell was a hardworking farmer adored by his family. He was only 49. He was recovering from an accident in which he suffered five fractures to his hip. Alpha Otis Stephens robbed his house, then smashed the man’s face in with a pistol. He then drove the terrified Mr Asbell three miles out into the countryside. Asbell, in immense agony, managed to somehow run a short distance to an abandoned building, where Stephens chased him down and shot him twice in the head- thereby permanently destroying the life of an entire family and murdering an entirely innocent man. Don’t waste your sympathy on vermin like Alpha Stephens.
Electrocution is an absolutely horrible way to go, and I have witnessed up close and personal. My father was a journeyman lineman, he was sent to the Dupont Plant in Baltimore, Md to work on an overhead power line, we went up in a bucket truck, he climbed out onto the tower and secured himself with his safety harness. He was using a wire brush to clean the connector, when he made contact the heat was unbearable, the last thing I seen was a blue like flame circling him, I got down as low as I could in the bucket for fear that I would be hit as well, the volts were so powerful it cut his belt and he fell to the ground, he was flown to Shock Trauma but he was gone. To those that may want to know the company was at fault, and they settled with my mother for wrongful death, I know this story isn't about the death penalty but I just wanted to tell how absolutely deadly electricity is, even house electric can kill.
Hmm....your dear ol' dad, a professional electrician, thought it OK to use a metal wire brush on the electrified wires even though he was still grounded? Your entire post reeks of fabrication, but why? Do you long for public notice and sympathy from strangers, or does your post reveal more sinister motives for your apparent need for attention? Finally, your use of the term "shock trauma" is quite telling.
Many physicians have stated that the condemned loses consciousness almost immediately after the electricity is switched on. The brain just can't function with that many volts at that amperage. Movement doesn't indicate consciousness.
@@chilliecheesecake That's what ur mom said. But next time you're sitting in an electric chair, genius, let us know whether you're unconscious. Pretty sure the doctors haven't sat in one either.
@@chilliecheesecake If someone slaps you while sleeping you'll feel it right ? But you were unconscious right ? The same applies here use your common sense.
This wasn't "botched". If one reads "Agent of Death: Memoirs of An Executioner" by Robert E. Greene, state executioner for New York State, you'll see that several times more than one application was necessary to complete the execution. Remember, the order reads that the current will be conducted until the prisoner is dead. Therefore, it will be done until it is done.
if the prisoner is dead when leaving the chamber, its not botched.. i remember in The Green Mile when they "botched" Dele Croix's death, Tom Hanks replied to James Cromwell "well, he is in fact, dead" lol .. Its only botched if the prisoner leaves the chamber still breathing.
Some correction officers refused to work in the wing where Bundy was executed, because they stated that they saw him sitting in the chair smiling at them. Some, quit. An inmate killed himself in my building, while i was working, and later, a new inmate was moved to a new cell because he said he saw the guy standing over him every night( the new inmate wasn't at our prison when the guy killed himself, and was the first inmate placed in that particular cell). Just saying.
I remember hearing about Bundy’s execution while driving to my teaching job. It was actually very funny. At the exact moment when he was being electrocuted, the radio played the sound of bacon frying. Then a phone call was placed to the Florida Penitentiary and a female voice asked, “With whom do you want to speak?” “Theodore Bundy, please.” Then the phone rings and rings. “Sorry, Mr. Bundy is not in his cell right now.” “I’ll call back later.” I was laughing my ass off. There were cars honking on the highway when the news of his execution had been announced. That radio piece probably couldn’t happen in 2022, but in 1989 it really was hilarious.
@@tommiedezerne1782 In all the documentaries I have watched about Ted Bundy the people who were with him when they brought him into the room with the chair was the first and only time they saw him frightened & could see the fear in his face. He said his knees actually buckled and a person on each side of him had to hold him up and set him in the chair. They had also just shaved his head and said that helped add to his look of being frightened. I remember the evening before his execution he was trying to blame porn for his behavior. That was the only time he tried that lie. His partners said he never had porn mags around and there were no VCRs around in the 1970s so he did not have some porn stash of movies and never went to any porn theaters because they only existed in places like NYC, San Francisco, LA, etc... It was him just trying to find another thing to blame his behavior on other than himself. At least Bundy was finally scared and showed fear. This doesn't change anything. When they took John Wayne Gacy to the chair and he sat down by himself and for his last words he defiantly said "kiss my ass" being an arrogant jerk right up to the end refusing to show them any fear if he had any. I was happy to hear Bundy finally realized his actions caught up with him. I have a daughter & a wife who both have long brunette hair and are beautiful as well just like all of Bundy's victims. I could not even begin to imagine having to deal with knowing my wife or grown daughter were killed in such a brutal horrible manner. I always immediately think how the father's and husbands must feel and what the have to deal with after going through something like that. There was a horrible case in Pennsylvania in 1995 where a mother was killed and SA and her baby daughter was also killed because she was shopping at a clothing store for children and the evil nasty son of the store owner was on duty. He locked the door and proceeded to kill the both of them. The mother's name was Lisa Manderach & her beautiful 18 month old baby girl's name was Devon. The evil thing's name is Caleb Fairley. his case was only mentioned for a quick 30 seconds on a local news station and barely written about in local newspapers because before the internet, social media and the 24/7 news cycles that was how most murders were reported on if they were not directly in your own state, city, etc... The case haunted me then and still does today. No other case seemed to haunt me the way this case has. I know why ... Lisa Manderach & her Daughter Devon were the same exact age as my wife and my beautiful baby girl were at that same time. My wife is also stunningly beautiful just as Lisa Manderach was which unfortunately can be a curse because there are men out there that will stalk women and make horrible comments to them. My wife was getting nasty phone calls at her job at one time around this time as well and the caller was disguising his voice and saying what he wanted to do to her in the most nasty and frightening way. My heart broke for Lisa's Husband as he not only lost his wife but this evil thing killed his 18 month old baby girl as well. Caleb is a disgusting loser. Unfortunately people who kill children and commit SA against other women are put in protected custody for their entire life sentence so they do not get beat up or SA by other inmates who consider it a badge of honor to kill a loser like him after making sure they get SA first. He gets to read any book he wants and is always protected for his entire life. It is so sick. Sorry for the novel LOLOL.
@@cygnals524 I use to live in Claysburg, PA., and worked at Graterford SCI prison above Philly. I wonder if that fellow you spoke of was housed there; it was one of the toughest prison in Pennsylvania.
@@tommiedezerne1782 I am not sure if this guy worked at the prison. I think he just started corresponding with Caleb the loser just to see what his response would be if he replied at all. I will check shortly and let you know the name of his RU-vid channel. The guy read the letter he got back from him on his channel. Caleb made a point to mention people are afraid of him because he is so big and "works out" Being the fat piece of loser is not the same as actually being big in a tough strong manner, etc.... Give me a short time and I will get you his channel name shortly so you can hear the letter baby clothing store child killer wrote to him. I am curious now, do you have any stories or things you can tell me/us about how life is for Caleb loser? I am curious if he gets beat up and/or SA'ed, etc... Most pedos & baby killers get stuck away in PC so they can't get the treatment they truly deserve. I would love to hear how the other inmates or guards treat him. I know when I worked at a locked door facility his type hated being called killers and ra*ists, Pedos, etc... and usually flip out about how rude they were treated because they feel they are above every hearing the disrespect and true way people really feel about them. They have a very sick sense of entitlement which makes them even more sickning & vile.
There are so many people with similar comments. Im not sure if it’s sarcasm, but that’s not what a botched execution is. Sometimes they don’t die. It’s just when it goes wrong. This definitely went wrong.
God I will never forget that scene. I haven’t been able to watch that movie since. I cried for hours after and it bothered me for days just thinking about it. 💔🥺😭 such a heartbreaking movie!
If the state has the power to kill it's citizens, it has a responsibility to carry it out as painlessly and as efficiently as possible. Otherwise, it's just causing undue suffering.
@@j.kearney484 Nobody cares about the suffering the victims killed by the turd being executed. Sorry I wont squeeze one tear about his "undue suffering."
@@firemedic5100 How you feel about the situation doesn't matter; even if the crimes committed are undeniably henous, exacting grisly vengeance on criminals shouldn't be the perogative of the state. It's job is to punish crimes.
Firing squad is way better. It never fails and is quite effective. Cheap too. Multiple shooters with one blank cartridge randomly introduced. Close range.
I agree. There are far less executions that have gone wrong with the firing squad. I can only think of one and it was due to a congenital heart defect, not error.💕
I’m sorry that the execution was not more swift and with a minimum of suffering. However, when you do research and find out the nature of Stephens’ crime, what little sympathy you have for him should slowly pass. It did for me. To make a long story as short as possible, over a decade before the execution, Stephens and an alleged partner were career criminals and had broken into a house when the owner wasn’t there and were robbing it when the owner’s elderly father showed up. When confronted, they proceeded to beat him severely until he was begging for his life, took him at gunpoint in his truck out into the country, and when he attempted to escape, Stephens caught him and fired twice into his head at point blank range. When caught, Stephens admitted to everything except the actual murder, claiming his partner fired the fatal shots.
It's refreshing to hear people admit that the death penalty has nothing to do with justice, but bloodthirst and revenge. Usually people will try to give you pretty bad philosophical evidence in support of state violence
Yessir, you are 100% correct. he wasn't repeatedly beaten with multiple broken bones and then shot twice in the ear. He admitted to the crimes as well. There was never a question of guilt.
@@sfullernj, no, to be as bad as him, you’d have to let him walk free from the consequences of his crime, as though nothing wrong had occurred. To my mind, life in prison is no different than letting them walk free. Free room and board for life, even in the worst conditions, is not a true punishment but a reward instead. And most killers who commit such horrible crimes don’t have a conscience, and so they won’t think of their victims’ suffering for one second out of 50+ years, even if they’ve got all the time in the world to feel guilty. If anyone lives a violent life, and commits such a violent murder when they didn’t have to, in my opinion such a person does not deserve to live to die of old age. Murderers should not be allowed to go their graves in peace. Most people don’t feel that way, but it is genuinely how I feel.
A few comments on judicial execution. The first step is normally a high-voltage jolt for a few seconds, intended to render the condemned unconscious. The higher voltage is necessary to get through the skull (as opposed to the blood vessels around it). The subsequent steps are longer, and the voltage is reduced, and the current increased. This is intended to destroy the nerves and stop the heart and breathing. One thing that affects executions is hydration. A dehydrated condemned person will not conduct the amps as well. It's not intended to just induce fibrillation of the heart and diaphragm. It brings heat, which destroys tissue. If the sponge is dry, then the electricity may arc into the scalp, and cause the wires to heat up. The sponge will catch fire. It's debatable that the condemned was in pain. The breathing and moaning may have been agonal, and the condemned probably was unconscious. The most painful electrical injury is from an arc flash, and it does not matter whether it hits you or not. If it goes through you, it will explode tissues and cause burns through the bone (fourth degree burns, total thickness). If it goes by you, it's hot enough to give you second and third-degree burns, and blow your clothes off, or melt them (a common result is a metal watch is burned into a persons' arm. It comes down to joules. A single joule can kill if accurately placed from a battery (15 mA is enough to stop the heart). Defibrillators are in the hundreds of joules range. A .50 cal bullet is 14-20,000 joules. A judicial electric chair execution is in the hundreds of thousands of joules. A judicial hanging tries to deliver around 1400 joules to the cervical spine to break it. The fact is means of execution isn't really for the condemned persons' benefit, it's for the witnesses so they get a peaceful show. The electric chair was introduced after a few botched hangings in NY (as was the gas chamber). Lethal injection is all about the illusion of 'turning off' the condemned. We kill cows by using a bullet (essentially) to the base of the brain, and then slit their throats. Chickens are stunned with electricity, and also get exsanguinated. Killing should be messy. People should understand it's messy. I expect there would be a lot less people in favor of capityal punishment.
If capital punishment is something society wants to accept then why shouldn't that society just do it publicly by having the victim's family themself shoot the murderer and people viewing it celebrate it as justice being served. If people think this is barbaric then they should be against capital punishment. If this is barbaric then it would just follow logically that the death penalty is barbaric because if you want to say society really accepts the death penalty then people should be happy and celebrate when an execution is carried out by the victim's family member.
@@asurrealistworld4412 Capital punishment is a guilty pleasure for society. We've had feuds and vendettas where honor was defended. We've gotten "more civilized" I suppose. They want people to be killed for crimes, but they don't want it to be messy. They want it to be easy for the public to say yes on. We came from public execution spectacles. There was an old Star Trek episode where two planets were at war in simulations, but if people were hit, they had to go to the disintegration center to be killed, or else the real war would start back up. Killing shouldn't be made tolerable. It should be messy. All trying to make it more humane has made it less humane.
When performed correctly the electric chair kills an inmate before he is able to sense pain. The electric chair has a botch rate of less than 1%, most of these occurred before 1970. Lethal injection has a confirmed botch rate of 7%. A review by medical professionals discovered that in about 41% of lethal injections, the anesthetic didn't induce unconsciousness. If this happens the inmate is aware as they lose control of their breathing drowning on dry land. They try to scream but can't. Finally, the third injection begins an overdose of Potassium Chloride. It feels like lava is going through their veins until it reaches their heart killing them. The electric chair looks violent and bloody but it's actually painless. Lethal injection looks painless but is actually sadistic and violent. We use Lethal injection because it looks nice. We like to feel we are more civilized than we were in the past, but we are not. We are worse because we lie to ourselves. Just as we ought to hunt for our meat, executions out to be public so we can be aware of what we are doing.
@@borgers7909 , here is an idea, although it’s graphic. I don’t believe that electricity is painless, and no one likes the smell of burning flesh. What I think would be the most painless way possible (I don’t think there is such a thing as a perfectly painless death), is to give them a ridiculous amount of sleeping pills hours before the execution, something that would probably result in an overdose. But before they are allowed to die that way, they are placed in a guillotine. The guillotine is a frightful device, like the electric chair, but it is quick. The real horror of that device in history was, I think, the victim’s knowledge that they are going to the guillotine before the actual act. The sleeping pills give them enough time to be unconscious, but the guillotine to inflict a quick demise that does not involve a gradual and prolonged shutting off of the bodily systems. I’m sorry if this offended anyone. I doubt it will ever be implemented.
He received much less pain for not even many minutes than he’s given the victim and his family for their whole entire life. Why do these sympathizers forget why these people are facing execution in the first place? Just because it didn’t actually happen to them?
@@buurmeisjeits perfectly just, the moment you take an innocent life you forfeit your right to live. That man killed an innocent person, and he was killed for it. the world is 100x better without him in it, id have him executed by firing squad if it were up to me.
You cover some fascinating topics and you have an amazing voice for this. Honestly, I could listen to you all day long regardless of the topic You deserve more subs.
@@traceyrossmann2989 Lol typical weak minded liberal logic. Going to jail for life where you can still read, watch TV, learn, talk to family, meet new people and just exist isn't a punishment.
By that logic in all fairness anytime who accidentally kills someone in something simple as a car accident or even just scaring them on Halloween would mean you should be electrocuted more or less
I think I remember hearing about how in the Middle Ages or something that if someone survived an attempted execution they would consider it a sign from God that the condemned was actually innocent and let them go.
"I think I remember hearing about...or something..." Wow, you think you may have heard something about something? Now that's compelling testimony! Perhaps you should start your own channel so more folks can enjoy hearing what you may have heard about things. And stuff.
Dear Mr. Playing with His Mobile: Please have your social worker give us a ring once you graduate from reform school so we can educate you on this subtle yet disarming form of humour called sarcasm.
They did the same in the old west. Some girl, can't remember her name, survived a hanging, and the crowd lost their minds when the sheriff strung her up again.
If you get executed in an electric chair, you will try to scream because of the immense pain, but because the electricity is forcing your muscles to contract, you cannot scream.
Having worked at a maximum security prison before I went into law enforcement, I can assume they didn’t want the witnesses to know that the execution didn’t work the first time. That’s why they told them everything was part of the normal process. Taking everyday people off the streets, into an execution chamber, is never something I agreed with. Having seen suicide, fatal crashes, it stays with you. You can never unsee it, and you never forget the way it made you feel. I’d recommend not witnessing execution to everyone.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but to this day no one has survived a .357 soft point to the head. This whole dog and pony show seems a bit over the top if their goal was simply to end the guy.
@@thedonkeyaward The stupid part is that most of us are fine with this torture, provided it's done to someone who actually genuinely deserves it (rather than some poor innocent railroaded through the "justice" system), but they insist on calling it "humane", and that I cannot abide.
The REPEAT of the tape presented on this site about the electrical procedure makes it sound like the execution was much longer, but it's exactly the same words and procedure, just played twice! The cap that is placed on the head puts electricity directly into the head and brain. The electricity is "rounded" due to electrodes also on the legs which completes the cycle. The electricity can also cause muscles to spasm so there may be some movement seen, which is not abnormal. The first round shuts down the brain but the heart may continue to pulsate although the person is unconscious, spasmodic movement can occur in all the body's muscles (the heart is also muscle).
There is more to that, than just voltage dont kill. Yes, voltage dont kill. However the higher voltage, the lesser amps you need. The voltage is there to counter the resistance in the object that electricity has to pass through. So.... The higher voltage, the easier a deadly ampere can pass through. You would not survive 10 amps at 10.000 voltage. But most will survive a shock from 240 volt, were the fuse blows above 10 amps. Mind you, that is 2400 watt's.
A couple of things to add. Firstly ,having watched the recording about the Georgia state tapes that isn't Alpha Stephens. Secondly ,over here ,the suspension time after hanging was amended from leaving them on the rope for one hour to taking them off after the doctor pronounced death. That led to a prisoner hanged at HMP Pentonville having to be re hung as he started to revive. I've never read anything more than that information so I guess it's a hush hush order.
If Albert Pierpoint had been the executioner, the condemned would have died as quickly, and as painlessly as possible, as he perfected his system to the point where he put the hood over the condemned’ head, then leg restraint, as arms were already behind their back, noose around neck, with the knot under the left side of the chin, then pull leaver to release the drop, all done in 7 seconds. The condemned died quickly because the knot under the chin flipped the head back so the neck broke, causing instantaneous death.
I just looked up the song to listen to it and it was. It is definitely the same audio. I always wonder what the red tape of using this kind of audio in a song is, but considering it’s a matter of public content, it’s probably fairly easy. There was another song that used the Christine Chubbuck suicide audio too.💖
I got electrocuted once when I was 11. I was unplugging my charger from the wall and my finger briefly hit the metal part as I was pulling it out. Worst fucking pain of my life at the time. To imagine that but 10 fold makes me somewhat morbidly happy that horrible criminals went this way, Despite my opposition to the death penalty.
It is such a terrible sensation! I got a bit of a shock when I was a teen working in a photo lab. It’s not only painful, but it truly feels disgusting. Glad that you survived and it wasn’t a worse jolt!💖
I was helping a friend replace his well pump. His son didn't know about the fuse box and assumed he flipped it. As we pulled it up (I was hit first) we were both hit with 240v. I just passed right out and sat up seconds later kind of laughing...what happened? I hate electricity.
I must have been about 5 years old. For some reason I wanted to unplug the light on the fish tank, so I grabbed the plug and pulled. Then I shifted my grasp and grabbed the two prongs. That hurt. Got it unplugged, though.
The amount of times he said "Commissioner?" it made me think of Stewie Griffin saying "Mom, mom, mommy mommy, mama mama mama etc" I just wanted the Commissioner to shout "WHAT?!"
On another tape, the narrative advised that the condemned had the perspiration wiped from his head. You'd think they'd not do that so as to aid the conduction of the juice.
It needs to be HORRIFIC and it needs to shown publicly. Simply put "This is what happens when you bring Horror upon the innocent, you get it right back and infinitely worse"!!!!
Sarah Marie Boulerice. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God. Stated another way, I don't assume to know where the murderers soul went after his execution, for I am not God. But his dead ass sure did belong to the State of Georgia, which showed him more leniency than he did his victim!
Why do you think we banned burning people alive at the stake? Or beheading in public? Is that what you'd like to do on your Saturday morning shopping experience, throw in a beheading whilst you browse for the latest Nike shoes?
The Georgia chair was underpowered, that's why it took so long. That whole story about Alpha Otis Stephens not being 'a good conductor of electricity' is blatant nonsense. An electric chair needs to put out at least 7-8 amps to overcome the inherent resistance of the human body but the Georgia chair only put out 5 amps. It wasn't just Alpha Otis Stephens either. There were multiple instances of the Georgia chair failing to kill with sufficient speed. There are stories going back to the 1920s where prison officials would get frustrated to the point where they'd pour buckets of salt water on them after multiple cycles failed to do the job.
@@JadeExplainsDeath Have you interviewed a condemend person after the electric chair? Have you talked to physicians or can you point to a study that was medically studied? We have drugs that we use to put dogs and horses down, why not a human?
When performed correctly the electric chair kills an inmate before he is able to sense pain. The electric chair has a botch rate of less than 1%, most of these occurred before 1970. Lethal injection has a confirmed botch rate of 7%. A review by medical professionals discovered that in about 41% of lethal injections, the anesthetic didn't induce unconsciousness. If this happens the inmate is aware as they lose control of their breathing drowning on dry land. They try to scream but can't. Finally, the third injection begins an overdose of Potassium Chloride. It feels like lava is going through their veins until it reaches their heart killing them. The electric chair looks violent and bloody but it's actually painless. Lethal injection looks painless but is actually sadistic and violent. We use Lethal injection because it looks nice. We like to feel we are more civilized than we were in the past, but we are not. We are worse because we lie to ourselves. Just as we ought to hunt for our meat, executions out to be public so we can be aware of what we are doing.
@@TheSuperHarrygeorge Scientists have studied the effect that that much electricity has on the brain. In 1/240 of the time, it takes to sense pain all your neurons are fried. In a lot of the "botched" electrocutions like alan lee Davis he felt no pain it just looked gross
Why would you even feel bad for inmates on death row. All are horrible people who did horrible things to end up on Death Row. But oh no, let’s feel bad about the pain they may feel.
Different countries have different standards. In the UK when we had capital punishment, Home Office instructions were clear. The punishment for murder was death - not torture before death. The process recorded here sounds medieval. If people don't want the public anywhere to have sympathy for the condemned, death needs to be instantaneous. I have heard differing accounts of the efficacy of the electric chair, ranging from immediate to drawn out. Different states had/have differing processes when using it. I understand alternating current is used which achieves death at a lower voltage and is lethal, yet it does not always go to plan.
Well that's kind of the reply I expected. I remain a bit sceptical that your abortion laws are so permissive as to make that possible. As far as I am aware the only times such a gross@@vzxvz9929 thing has occurred was during China's one child policy - in China - and for a brief period in the Ukraine, following the blowing of Chernobyl's nuclear reactor in 1986.
The test they used to use to see if the chair was working correctly was not, not an accurate way of testing in that it could show that there was current going but not the strength, unless they changed it before stopping use of the chair altogether. Under an amp can be lethal. The chair ran over 2000 volts, but I was very surprised to learn that the current running through the prisoner was only 7 to 12 amps. A vaccume cleaner uses 8 amps. If an old rubber coated cable snapped under the coating, that could greatly reduce the current and turn the chair into a torture device like in the movies.
No sympathy here for an admitted murderer who then tried to shift blame at sentencing. Damn, I'd love to be an executioner myself. These creeps need to feel just a little of the terror and horror their victims felt.
