Betsey\'s Execution

STATE OF Pacifica

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Pacifica Women’s Correctional Institute - Sing Sing

EXECUTION REPORT

Inmate ID No. 00-9602850

Name: Betsey {last name deleted}

Date of Birth: June 14, 2064

Crime(s): none

Sentence: Death by Electrocution

Height: 5’10”

Measurements: 32B-24-26

Hair: Auburn

Eyes: Brown

BETSEY’S Execution - PART ONE

The Euthanasia and Right to Die Act of 2105, passed by our Legislature a few months ago, permits terminally-ill persons to petition the courts for permission to take their own lives by certain prescribed methods. One prescribed method, due to my lobbying efforts, is of course our electric chair. All the law requires is that two physicians must certify that the person is terminally-ill, and one psychiatrist must certify that the person is competent to petition the courts for permission to die. The person must be an adult and the petition must be a free and voluntary act. The person can also change her mind at anytime, and stop the execution process.

Betsey was an electrical engineer afflicted with a terminally-ill condition that privacy laws prohibit me from disclosing. We met while both lobbying in support of the Act on the Hill. She was in the early stages of her disease and said electrical euthanization appealed to her. “When done right, electricity will make a person go out like a light”, she intimated to me one night after a long day of lobbying. “I know honey”, I said. “ I’ve seen it”. We laughed. I then relayed to her my experiences with Gina, Laura and the others. “Oh my” she said, “what you don’t read in the papers”. She giggled. A possible victim, I thought.

Betsey filed her petition the same day the Act passed and was signed into law by the Governor. Her method of choice: electrocution in Pacifica‘s electric chair. Upon news of this, she immediately drew the attention of the media with her long shiny auburn hair, soft brown eyes and taut figure. She also incurred the wrath of anti-death penalty groups who vowed to oppose her every step of the way. Journalists seemed drawn to her. “How could such a stunningly beautiful, photogenic woman, volunteer for such a horrible fate?”, was the question asked over and over. Betsey always responded, “You will be torturing me to life, if you block my electrocution.” Her domestic partner Jodie {last name deleted} was her attorney and advocated her cause so brilliantly that even the judge who issued the order, himself an avid death penalty opponent, stated from the bench, “If this is what you want, I cannot deny your petition. The law is clear.” Anti-death penalty groups were stunned by the ruling, outraged at the judge and so focused on impeaching him, that they missed the deadline to appeal the judge’s ruling. Betsey was elated and immediately applied to the Governor for the earliest possible “appointment“. Her lawyer Jodie told me that Betsey’s mother died from the same condition, and Betsey remembered how her mom looked when she died. She was determined not to go through the same hell. “The chair isn’t exactly paradise counselor” I said. “No, but it’s quicker”, Jodie retorted.

In mid-August, Betsey received what she told the press was, “the happiest news in my life after being diagnosed six months before.” A notice arrived at her home from the State of Pacifica Department of Corrections, signed by me, which succinctly stated:

In my office at the prison, I watched Betsey’s outdoor press conference, just outside the prison gates, where she was heckled by her opponents. She handled it with her usual elan. She wore a navy blue chiffon dress which simply looked beautiful on her. Her hem fluttered in the breeze revealing a tiny bit of lace and nylon underneath. She thanked Jodie and all who supported her. She was asked what she was going to wear to her execution. She responded that that was up to the prison authorities. I smiled. Absolutely nothing, I thought.