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CNN Live At Daybreak

Most Executions in United States Takes Place in Texas

Aired May 24, 2002 - 06:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The United States is one of the few remaining Western countries that still imposes the death penalty. Currently, most executions in the United States take place in Texas. Last August, CNN went to the state as it planned to put a man to death. Our report, "Scheduled to Die," airs this weekend on "CNN PRESENTS."

CNN's Christiane Amanpour has a preview for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Huntsville, Texas is a prosperous city of 35,000 people. It's a quiet town in the plains of eastern Texas. Nonetheless, it has attracted worldwide attention because Huntsville is home to the Texas death chamber, which has executed more people in the past 20 years than any other in the United States.

This morning's work detail is grooming the grounds, preparing the prison for another inmate's death. Napoleon Beasley is that inmate. He committed a murder at age 17, and he's now on the brink of the ultimate punishment: death by lethal injection.

(on camera): So we're entering now...

LARRY FITZGERALD, PUBLIC INFORMATION DEPT. OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: This is the death chamber.

AMANPOUR: Oh, it's shocking to see for me for the first time.

FITZGERALD: At six o'clock he'll be removed from the cell, be brought in here. He'll get up on the gurney. Once he's on the gurney, five officers are each assigned a position around this gurney.

AMANPOUR: And those five people are what you call the "tie down people?"

FITZGERALD: Tie down team. And they will strap his arms down, they'll strap his ankles down, and then they'll put the restraints across the rest of his body. The IV team will come in, they'll insert two IVs, one in his left arm, one in his right arm. The warden will then give the signal and the chemicals start flowing.

AMANPOUR: Does he talk to you when the IV is going in? JIM BRAZZIL, PRISON CHAPLAIN, TEXAS DEPT. OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Yes, I'll make it a point to talk to them real strong during that point in time. I mean, we've had fellows who have laid here and told lawyer jokes the whole time somebody was sticking the needles in.

AMANPOUR: How long more do you think you'll do this for?

BRAZZIL: I don't know. I don't look at it as a job. I look at it as a ministry, and that's the reason I'm here. So, you know, whenever -- as long as the opportunity allows, I'll be here.

AMANPOUR: You don't think at some point it will wear on your soul?

BRAZZIL: It has taken its toll, yes it has.

AMANPOUR: And for you, how do you look at it?

FITZGERALD: I look at it as a service for the people of Texas, actually performing a service.

AMANPOUR: Do you know how cold that will sound to a lot of people?

FITZGERALD: No, I think that it's not meant to sound cold, right, by any stretch of the imagination. I view my job as really being an extension of what the courts have ordered.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: CNN PRESENTS SCHEDULE TO DIE PART I airs on Saturday night at 8:00 Eastern Time and again on Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern Time here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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