Wednesday, December 8, 1999
Set for execution, inmate OD's, is put on ventilator
Lethal injection scheduled for today is on hold as condemned man clings to life in hospital IC
By Michael Graczyk
Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE - A Texas death row inmate set to die Wednesday night for killing three women near Dallas was hospitalized for a drug overdose, casting doubt on whether his execution would occur as scheduled.
David Long, 46, was set for lethal injection after 6 p.m. Wednesday for killing the women with a hatchet in 1986 at a home in Lancaster, just south of Dallas. He also confessed to at least two other slayings.
Long was discovered Monday morning "unresponsive in his cell" at the Ellis Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, agency spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said Tuesday. After treatment at the unit infirmary and Huntsville Memorial Hospital, Long was transferred to the prison system's hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
"He is off a ventilator but still in the intensive care unit," Fitzgerald said. "He's in serious condition but is talking to the staff. "We're waiting for the attorney general and legal authorities as to what to do next," he said. "Apparently he overmedicated himself."
Hospital officials determined the drugs to be opiates, according to Fitzgerald, who characterized the medication as anti-depressants. Andrea Horton, a spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's office, said authorities were awaiting word from the hospital "to determine what the next step is." She would not speculate whether Long would be executed Wednesday night."All I know for now is we're waiting to hear from the hospital," she said.
Richard Trinci, a prison spokesman at the Galveston hospital, said a decision on whether to release Long from the hospital was being reviewed by physicians treating the inmate. Fitzgerald said it was common for inmates to be given medications at their cells but the procedure is for the medical staff or an officer dispensing the drug to make certain the inmate swallows it. "It would appear he hoarded medication," Fitzgerald said. Although he was unaware a formal investigation of the incident was started, "It's fair to say internal affairs will be looking into it," he said.
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Hmm... What should we do next? Nurse him back to health so that we can have a good execution? Accidentally step on his ventilator hose? This plot would be rejected for a "B" movie.
Del
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