Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
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:06:00
The human body
is not easy to destroy.

:06:03
It's not easy to take a life
humanely and painlessly,

:06:07
without doing
a great deal of damage
to the individual's body.

:06:13
Excess current
cooks the tissue.

:06:17
There have been occasions...
:06:19
where a great amount
of current has been applied...

:06:22
and the meat will come off
the executee's body like meat
coming off a cooked chicken.

:06:32
The execution
must be conducted
in two jolts.

:06:37
In 1/240th part of a second...
:06:39
the first jolt disrupts
or destroys the individual's
central nervous system.

:06:46
Current is then applied...
:06:48
for a time
approaching one minute.

:06:53
The adrenaline
is being driven out
into the bloodstream.

:07:00
The second jolt
now seizes the pacemaker
a second time.

:07:04
There's now no adrenaline left
to restart the pacemaker.

:07:10
The person is dead.
:07:14
If the voltage does not exceed
2,000 volts...

:07:18
throughout the execution,
:07:20
the individual's pacemaker
is not permanently seized.

:07:24
In some 20, 30 minutes later
the individual's heart
restarts itself on its own...

:07:30
and the person
is now alive again.

:07:33
They would have to call
all the witnesses back,

:07:36
strap the vegetable
back into the chair...

:07:39
and reelectrocute him.
:07:47
There's no difference
in a life support system
and an execution system.

:07:51
Uh, the system has to
function flawlessly...

:07:54
for the time period
that it's operating.

:07:57
With a life support system,
if it doesn't function,
the person dies.


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