when did florida stop using the electric chair
1999
title: Electric chair text: provided inmates with a choice of the electric chair or lethal injection; however, in May 2014, the state passed a law allowing the use of the electric chair if lethal injection drugs were unavailable or made unconstitutional. In the U.S. state of Florida, on July 8, 1999, Allen Lee Davis, convicted of murder, was executed in the Florida electric chair "Old Sparky". Davis' face was bloodied, and photographs were taken, which were later posted on the Internet. An investigation concluded that Davis had begun bleeding before the electricity was applied and that the chair had functioned as designed. Florida’s Supreme title: Electric chair text: in the same electric chair in Florida on January 24, 1989. The last person to be executed by electric chair without the choice of an alternative method was Lynda Lyon Block on May 10, 2002, in Alabama. The use of the electric chair has declined as legislators sought what they believed to be more humane methods of execution. Lethal injection became the most widely used method, aided by media reports of botched electrocutions in the early 1980s. The electric chair has been criticized because of several instances in which the subjects were killed only after being subjected to multiple electric title: Capital punishment in Florida text: and were labeled as "botched" by opponents (Jesse Tafero in 1990, Pedro Medina in 1997, and Allen Lee Davis in 1999). While most states switched to the lethal injection, many politicians in Florida opposed giving up "Old Sparky", seeing it as a "deterrent". Finally, after the Davis execution, lethal injection was enabled and became the default method. Inmates, however, may still choose electrocution.. In January 2016, Wayne Doty asked the state to carry out his death sentence by electric chair, becoming the first inmate to do so since electrocution became optional. Today, the only execution chamber in Florida is located title: Allen Lee Davis text: another death row inmate, that argued that the electric chair was a cruel and unusual punishment. As of 2018, Davis was the last Florida inmate killed by the electric chair; beginning in 2000, all subsequent executions were by lethal injection. Allen Lee Davis Allen Lee Davis (July 20, 1944 – July 8, 1999) was an American mass murderer executed for the May 11, 1982, murder of Nancy Weiler, who was three months pregnant, in Jacksonville, Florida. According to reports, Nancy Weiler was "beaten almost beyond recognition" by Davis with a .357 Magnum, and hit over 25 times in the face title: Capital punishment in Florida text: that in case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial). Florida used public hanging under a local jurisdiction, overseen and performed by the sheriffs of the counties where the crimes took place. However, in 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair and stated that all future execution will be performed under state jurisdiction inside prisons. The electric chair became a subject of strong controversy in the 1990s after three executions received considerable media attention