A lot has happened in the past few days in Zimbabwe, where the world's oldest head of state tries to remain in power even under military house arrest. Thousands of giddy Zimbabweans are in the streets to demand his departure, tired of a collapsing economy that once was one of Africa's strongest. Here's a quick guide to the key events and players:
Part of an election poster from the 2008 Zanu Pf election campaign is seen the wall of a dilapidated building in the Mbara suburb of Harare, Friday Nov. 17, 2017. State broadcaster ZBC — for decades, a mouthpiece for the Robert Mugabe government — reported on the surging campaign for his ouster and showed video of ruling party members saying he should resign. (AP Photo)
MUGABE
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A lot has happened in the past few days in Zimbabwe, where the world's oldest head of state tries to remain in power even under military house arrest. Thousands of giddy Zimbabweans are in the streets to demand his departure, tired of a collapsing economy that once was one of Africa's strongest. Here's a quick guide to the key events and players:
The 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe has been under house arrest since Tuesday, when the military moved in. That decision was sparked by Mugabe's firing of his longtime deputy, leading to fears that the president was positioning his unpopular wife, Grace, to succeed him. Mugabe is said to be asking for more time amid negotiations on his departure. The military has been taking pains to refer to him as president and allowed him to make a public appearance Friday at a graduation ceremony, where he received polite applause.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe sits for formal photographs with university officials, after presiding over a student graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe Friday, Nov. 17, 2017. Mugabe made his first public appearance since the military put him under house arrest earlier this week. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
THE PEOPLE
Several thousand people are in the streets of the capital, Harare, to demand Mugabe's exit as Zimbabweans giddily explore the rare freedom of expression amid the political limbo. Saturday's demonstration was approved by the military and has participation from across the political spectrum, from Mugabe's once-staunch loyalists among the liberation war veterans to opposition activists long-used to police crackdowns.
A protester holds a banner referring to President Mugabe as "grandfather", at a demonstration at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare, Zimbabwe Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Opponents of Mugabe are demonstrating for the ouster of the 93-year-old leader who is virtually powerless and deserted by most of his allies. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
THE MILITARY
Zimbabwe's army commander on Monday threatened to "step in" after Mugabe fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the next day he did. In an extraordinary image later in the week, state-run media published photos of Gen. Constantino Chiwenga shaking hands with a smiling Mugabe at the State House as negotiations with regional leaders continued. The military is trying not to project the image of a coup, which could bring regional sanctions and further harm the country's standing with international investors.
Euphoric crowds greet armed soldiers while marching on the streets of Harare, demanding the departure of President Robert Mugabe, Saturday Nov, 18, 2017. Zimbabweans giddy with joy raced through intersections, raising their arms in triumph. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
THE RULING PARTY
The state-run broadcaster on Friday night devoted its nightly news to footage of ruling ZANU-PF party leaders across the country calling on Mugabe to step aside and calling him old and incapacitated. All 10 provincial party branches have passed no-confidence votes and asked for a Central Committee meeting within two days as the party moves to recall Mugabe and possibly press for impeachment when Parliament resumes Tuesday.
A happy protester pulls a face as he and others stand under a large national flag, at a demonstration of tens of thousands at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare, Zimbabwe Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Opponents of Mugabe are demonstrating for the ouster of the 93-year-old leader who is virtually powerless and deserted by most of his allies. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
THE NEXT LEADERS?
Mnangagwa fled the country shortly after his firing by Mugabe and his whereabouts are unknown. He is expected to lead any new government, and his supporters say he will make a public appearance once arrangements for Mugabe's exit are complete. High-profile opposition leaders such as Morgan Tsvangiari, who shared power with Mugabe between 2009 and 2013 before losing disputed elections, are expected to play a role in a new government, but they have said they have not been contacted by those taking part in the Mugabe negotiations.
People hold their messages in Harare to demonstrate for the ouster of President Robert Mugabe who is virtually powerless and deserted by most of his allies, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. Zimbabwe's generals, including Constantino Chiwenga, on poster left, have placed Mugabe under house arrest and have allowed him limited movement while talks on his exit from office unfold. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
THE FIRST LADY
Grace Mugabe has been out of the picture, literally, since the military stepped in. Once ever-present at her husband's side at public events, she has not been seen in days. The quick-tempered first lady, deeply unpopular among Zimbabweans for her lavish spending, did not accompany the president at Friday's graduation ceremony. She was not pictured in the photographs of the State House negotiations. Despite rumors that she has fled the country, she is thought to remain under house arrest. In one example of Zimbabweans' anger at the idea of her becoming their next president, one sign at Saturday's massive demonstration read: "Leadership is not sexually transmitted."
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri's execution protocol allows for “surgery without anesthesia” if the typical process of finding a suitable vein to inject the lethal drug doesn't work, lawyers for a death row inmate say in an appeal aimed at sparing his life.
Brian Dorsey, 52, is scheduled for execution Tuesday for killing his cousin and her husband at their central Missouri home in 2006. His attorneys are seeking clemency from Gov. Mike Parson and have several appeals pending.
A federal court appeal focuses on how Missouri injects the fatal dose of pentobarbital. The written protocol calls for insertion of primary and secondary intravenous lines. But it offers no guidance on how far the execution team can go to find a suitable vein, leaving open the possibility of an invasive “cutdown procedure,” Dorsey's attorneys say.
The procedure involves an incision that could be several inches wide and several inches deep. Forceps are used to tear tissue away from a vein that becomes the injection point.
“It's surgery,” said Arin Brenner, a federal public defender and one of the attorneys representing Dorsey. “It would be surgery without anesthesia.”
Brenner said Dorsey faces a higher-than-normal risk of needing a cutdown because he is obese. His veins also might be compromised because he is diabetic and a former IV drug user.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Andrew Bailey didn't comment but referred to the state's response to the appeal.
“Cut-down procedures are rarely, if ever, used under Missouri’s execution protocol,” the response stated. “And in the event that a cut-down procedure were necessary, medical personnel have access to pain relieving medications.”
Medication would be inadequate and if the procedure is necessary, Dorsey should receive a local anesthetic, said Megan Crane, another attorney for him.
“It is extremely painful," Crane said. “Even if given an oral pain relief or an opioid, that will not relieve the pain.”
Lawyers for Dorsey say use of the surgical procedure would violate his constitutional guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment and also his right to religious freedom, because it would prevent him from having meaningful interaction with his spiritual adviser, including the administration of last rites.
The issue isn't theoretical. In Idaho, the scheduled execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech in February was halted after a medical team unsuccessfully tried eight times establish an IV. It is unclear whether, when or how the state might try again to execute him.
Missouri's execution process is shrouded in secrecy, so it's impossible to know if, or how often, cutdown procedures have been required. No independent observer sees the IV line inserted. The spiritual adviser doesn't enter the room until the preparation is complete. Witnesses sit in dark rooms with curtains drawn until corrections officers open them seconds before the drug is injected.
Attorneys for Dorsey wonder if a cutdown procedure was used in January 2023 when Amber McLaughlin was executed. It was believed to be the first execution of an openly transgender person in the U.S.
The Rev. Lauren Bennett of St. Louis served as McLaughlin's spiritual adviser. She recalled McLaughlin saying, “Ouch, ouch, ouch. It hurts," but said McLaughlin was unable to explain the cause of her pain before her death.
Issues with the IV have been problematic in executions elsewhere.
In 2014, Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett was declared dead 43 minutes after his execution began, at times writhing in pain and clenching his teeth through the process. A state investigation showed that the execution team repeatedly failed to insert an IV line in his arms, jugular vein, foot and subclavian vein in the upper torso, before eventually running a line through a vein in Lockett’s groin.
The review found that Lockett died after the line came loose, and that the deadly chemicals were pumped into the tissue surrounding the injection site instead of directly into his bloodstream. There is no indication in the report that Lockett was ever given an anesthetic.
In 2022, it took more than three hours to execute Joe Nathan James Jr. in Alabama. The state said the process was delayed because of difficulties establishing an IV line. Dr. Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology at Emory University and an expert on lethal injection who witnessed the private autopsy, said he saw “multiple puncture sites on both arms” and two incisions in the middle of the arm, which he said were indications of efforts to perform a cutdown. It's unclear if he received anesthesia.
Messages were left Friday with corrections officials in Oklahoma and Alabama.
Dorsey, formerly of Jefferson City, was convicted of killing his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Ben, on Dec. 23, 2006, at their home near New Bloomfield. Prosecutors said that earlier that day, Dorsey called Sarah Bonnie seeking to borrow money to pay two drug dealers who were at his apartment.
Dorsey went to the Bonnies’ home that night. After they went to bed, Dorsey took a shotgun from the garage and killed both of them before sexually assaulting Sarah Bonnie’s body, prosecutors said.
Sarah Bonnie’s parents found the bodies the next day. The couple’s 4-year-old daughter was unhurt.
In the clemency petition, 72 current and former state correctional officers asked Parson, a Republican and a former county sheriff, to commute Dorsey’s sentence to life in prison, citing his virtually spotless record of good behavior while in prison.
“The Brian I have known for years could not hurt anyone,” one officer wrote. “The Brian I know does not deserve to be executed.”
A spokesperson said Parson is still reviewing the clemency request.
An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centers on the $12,000 flat fee for Dorsey's court-appointed trial attorneys. The appeal argues that with the flat fee, his lawyers had a financial incentive to resolve the case quickly. They encouraged Dorsey to plead guilty, but with no demand that prosecutors agree to life in prison instead of the death penalty.
Dorsey's attorneys also had asked the Missouri Supreme Court to stay the execution on the grounds that the Department of Corrections' acting director, Trevor Foley, has not been confirmed by the state Senate and is therefore unqualified to oversee an execution. The court denied that request Friday.
AP reporter Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.
A photo released by the Federal Public Defender, shows inmate Brian Dorsey at the Potosi Correctional Center, Washington County, Missouri. Dorsey is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, April 9, 2024, for killing two people in 2006. (Jeremy Weis, Federal Public Defender via AP)
A photo released by the Federal Public Defender, shows inmate Brian Dorsey at the Potosi Correctional Center, Washington County, Missouri. Dorsey is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, April 9, 2024, for killing two people in 2006. (Jeremy Weis, Federal Public Defender via AP)
