The Shady Business of Lethal Injection: The Quality of Mercy

In the conclusion of this three-part series on lethal injection, Steve Monacelli and Dr. Michael Phillips interview Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was shot and blinded in one eye by a white supremacist on a killing spree in Dallas following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Bhuiyan explains why he campaigned to prevent the execution of his attacker, Mark Stroman. His efforts led European companies that produce lethal chemicals to stop selling them for executions in states like Texas. The episode then looks at how states have evaded such bans by buying the drugs on the black market. Finally, we’ll hear from a from a priest, the Rev. Jeff Hood, who has held the hands of more than 10 condemned prisoners and witnessed their prolonged, tortured deaths. The series ends with a discussion of the uncertain future of the death penalty in this country.

Note: The Rev. Jeff Hood wanted to clarify that he began corresponding with condemned prisoners in 2010 and has has offered counseling to more than 100 prisoners on death row. After our interview, he accompanied Anthony Boyd during his nitrous hypoxia death in Alabama on October 23. That was the eleventh execution he has attended in person.

Sources:

Breanna Ehrlich, “The Last Face Death Row Inmates See,” Rolling Stone, March 29, 2025 (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/death-row-reverend-jeff-hood-1235305460/)

Anand Giridharadas, The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.)

Corinna Barrett Lain, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (New York: New York University Press, 2025.)

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