The Electric Chair

[Brolin’ to death]

Brolin One-Liner: "How many of us take our comfort for granted?"

Thanks Brolin. This is not the way to keep an audience captivated. You just told a story about a ghost and a burglar falling two stories onto his head. Let’s follow that up with a story about a chair. AN ELECTRIC CHAIR!!! (Insert kick ass air guitar solo here.)

Brolin trots out the fact that the Electric chair is the most reliable method of execution. I’m calling fiction on this one already. Lethal injection, firing squad, or beheading would be on my list of “more reliable ways to execute prisoners.” If I were making said list. Which I am not. Damnit. I’m sure this will get me put on to a watch list by the NSA. Anyways, one of the main reason there was a decline in the use of the electric chair in executions was due to its unreliability in killing victims with the first shock. As of 1997, when this was filmed, there were only six states where an inmate could still choose the electric chair.

Another little side note: I had heard that executions could only be attempted three times by law, and the prisoner would be set free. A relic from a bygone age where divine intervention was to be believed over unreliable methods. But with no citations available, I’m willing to chalk that up to an urban myth.

We are introduced to “State Prison” one of the maximum security prisons in the uhh. . . state and the next inmate to ride the lightning. James Brolin goes into quite a bit of detail outlying the reason for the straps to prevent his convulsing body from losing contact and the blindfold because death is icky. Raymond Michael Edmonston watches his light bulb shudder as another man “takes a seat.” Ray is accused of first degree murder and is next in queue on death row. Ray is accused of murdering a store clerk in front of two eyewitnesses. Getting sloppy there, Ray. Brolin goes on to paint a pretty meager picture of what constitutes as evidence these days. No gun, no physical evidence, no alibi, only two eyewitnesses. Beyond a reasonable doubt? Ha! More like a preponderance of the evidence! Raymond forgives his attorney though for not even being able to get him a reduced sentence, even though any real trial would have been dismissed on a lack of evidence. His public defender argues viciously in the background for his release but Ray quietly eats his last meal and drinks his last beer. Only in America.

[God bless the American legal systems]

Back in his cell, two armed guards come to get the prisoner as the drum beats slowly. Ray walks down the green mile to the electric chair and is seated by the guards. His attorney attempts to go to the viewing gallery but is stopped by the guard. Fortunately the only clearance he needs is to point to Ray and say “I’m with him.”  It’s clear the only reason he is stopped is because: A.) This is the South and B.)He is the only black person in the story.

[Why would they recreate racism?]

After some tense moments and the SLOWEST wristwatch check in television history, the plunger is pulled. When he isn’t zapped by a thousand watts of justice, they check the wires and make a second attempt. Still nothing. After a thorough visual exam reveals nothing, they send Ray back to his cell. Raymond is granted a short 24 hour reprieve from death, probably in order to call an actual electrician. This is just a story of an incompetent attorney and further incompetent executioners. When the guards come to get him a second time, he has cleaned up nicely sporting a tie and sports coat. He is let free.

Brolin reminds us that we didn’t accidentally change over to the lifetime channel and that something beyond belief is actually going on here. “At the exact same moment” somebody else was robbing another convenience store. It’s exactly what you think, a copy-cat doppelganger burglar. No, it’s actually “divine intervention” or something and Ray is ordered to be set free immediately. It turns out that the police officers that had picked up Ray were the same ones that picked up the new guy and recognized the similarities between the two men. The new burglar confesses to the original crime that Ray was convicted of and is immediately set free. You know, after the six years he spent in jail because he was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

Brolin seems more worried about a faulty electrical system being the act of a benevolent God, than about a man who spent six years in jail erroneously. Just because the man is innocent doesn’t necessarily mean an electrical failure is the work of God. One time, I had a battery die, but I didn’t accuse God of smiting it.

Dale’s Comments: I don’t believe it. The exact same time? The exact same cops found the exact same burglar? Beyond belief.

Casey’s Comments: I don’t know. They aren’t asking us to believe much. Electrical chairs were big in what, the 30’s? It’s not like they had the most reliable electricity back then either. The whole divine intervention thing is just an angle for the show. Fact.

Fact or Fiction: Fiction