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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - There are strong signs that a convicted killer felt pain during his botched execution, but there is no way to tell for sure because blood samples were taken too late, an expert told a commission reviewing Florida's execution procedures Monday.
Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, was executed Dec. 13, 2006, by the lethal injection of two drugs that are normally extremely painful, and a doctor said that a sedative may not have taken hold. Death penalty opponents are carefully watching the case, and then-Gov. Jeb Bush halted executions and created the commission.
"Mr. Diaz, in my opinion, was not properly anesthetized when the pancuronium and potassium were delivered to his system," said Dr. Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist at Columbia University Medical Center who has studied lethal injection cases nationwide.
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