Wrongful Death Suit May be Filed for Death Row Inmate

Shannon Weidemann

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A man was excuted by the North Carolina Department of Corrections in August and now his attorney is considering filing a wrongful death suit after all the conditions set forth by a U.S. District Court Judge were not followed. A doctor was supposed to monitor the man to make sure he was fully unconscious before being executed and according to a deposition, that did not happen.

U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard allowed the August execution of Samuel R. Flippen to proceed only after he was satisfied that the state Department of Correction planned to have a doctor and a nurse ensure the convicted child killer was fully unconscious before being killed.

"This shows the courts and the public and the North Carolina Legislature cannot trust the North Carolina Department of Correction to follow the law and follow court orders in carrying out executions," said Flippen's attorney, Thomas Loflin. "You now cannot accept that they say it was done properly."

North Carolina has put execution of death row inmates on hold over concerns about lethal injection. The doctor that attended the execution has said he was not responsible for monitoring the brain activity and that a nurse was doing that job.