The electric chair is supposed to be a quick and humane way to put a criminal to death. But when the executioner at the Florida State Prison threw the switch on cop killer Jessie Tafero two weeks ago, it seemed anything but. To the horror of spectators, fire and smoke shot out from the headpiece strapped to Tafero's skull. He nodded and gurgled for four minutes as his eyebrows burned and ashes fell from his head to his shoulders. The 2,000-volt current had to be turned off twice to keep the whole metal-and-leather headgear from bursting into flame.
"Torture," said the...
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