Patrick Charles Hannon, 53, was executed by the state of Florida on November 8. He was sentenced to death for murdering 27-year-old Brandon Snider and 28-year-old Robert Carter in 1991. As with all executions, there were people who witnessed as the state carried out the capital punishment imposed against Hannon. CBS News reporter Greg Angel was a media witness who was present, the New Zealand Herald noted.
An estimated 20 people, in all, witnessed as the state administered the lethal injection protocol, holding Hannon accountable for the murders he committed.
Angel, as well as three media contemporaries, were present at the execution to better assess and assure the public that the delivery of death was a “humane process,” the Herald reported.
Media witness to executions says the process is like someone falling ‘asleep’
Angel assessed the media’s attendance at the macabre events as “a watchdog advocacy role,” the Herald relayed. He further stated that the importance of reporters witnessing executions is to make sure that the “injection is carried out with an accurate record of events.” After three executions, Angel describes the process as “watching someone fall asleep.”
At 8:50 PM on Wednesday, Hannon was pronounced dead. The afternoon following Hannon’s execution, Tallahassee Citizens Against the death penalty (TCADP) held a vigil at the capitol.
Hannon was the 25th death row inmate executed during Florida Governor Rick Scott’s tenure.
Death penalty protestors’ version of execution conflicts with eyewitness account
A representative of TCADP stated that the vigil was in protest of the death penalty. The group was gathered to “protest the violent act committed in our name and to say that this was not an act of justice,” according to the representative and to WEAR TV.
TCADP’s characterization of Hannon’s execution, however, conflicts with the eyewitness account that Angel shared with the New Zealand Herald. “Many define an execution as a barbaric act,” he said, “but it is veiled in the guise of a medical procedure.”
He also stated that there weren’t any “violent physical reactions.” He told the Herald, as well, that the execution was “silent, and somewhat peaceful.”
Victim’s family member waves 'goodbye' to killer as execution happens
Prior to administering the three-drug lethal injection cocktail on Wednesday, Hannon delivered his final statement.
He insisted that he was innocent and offered an apology to Carter’s family. During the 1991 killings, he fatally shot Carter in the chest six times, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
He told Carter’s family that he hoped his execution would give them some peace. He also stated, “I wish I could have done more to save Robert.” Carter fled upstairs and was hiding under a bed after Hannon cut Snider’s throat and nearly decapitated him. Carter and Snider were roommates when they were murdered on January 10, 1991.
One of Snider’s relatives, also witnessing the execution, whispered an obscenity, the Times noted. She also “waved goodbye as he was put to death.” She didn’t want to identify herself or offer media a comment.
Angel observed the contrast between how the victims were murdered in relation to the killers’ executions that he has witnessed. He told the Herald that there was a “drastic difference in tone” when considering murderers’ level of violence committing crimes “that put them on the gurney in the first place.”
