May 4, 1990 - Execution goes awry as flames, smoke shoot from head
If you oppose the death penalty, you'll find plenty of talking points in the case of Jesse Joseph Tafero. Sentenced to death for the 1976 killings of two law enforcement officers, Tafero did not come to a quick and merciful end. After Tafero was strapped into Florida's electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky," at Florida State Prison in Starke, six-inch flames and smoke shot from his head when the executioner applied the voltage. Three jolts of current were required to end his life, and the process lasted seven minutes. The malfunction occurred because someone on the execution team used a synthetic sponge under the headpiece that helps deliver the current. The procedure required use of sea sponges were because they create greater connectivity. The case fueled debate over humane execution and preceded decisions by several states to abolish the electric chair. Florida discontinued its use in favor of lethal injection in 2000, three years after 12-inch flames shot from the head of another condemned man and a year after blood shot out of the nose of yet another. After Tafero's execution, one of his co-defendants in the murder case -- who cut a plea deal to avoid the death penalty by testifying that Tafero shot the officers in a traffic stop -- recanted and confessed to being the trigger man. Tafero is frequently cited by death penalty opponents as an example of wrongful execution. Read more in the Gainesville Sun: Tafero meets grisly fate in chair • Read an argument in Criminal Justice Degrees Guide that Tafero was wrongly executed