When reporters shuffle into Florida State Prison to cover an execution, they’re given a notepad and two pencils to take notes, and maybe a bit of an education from John Koch.
Koch said he remembers that when Florida still used the electric chair, known as Old Sparky, the pencils carried the brand name “Sparco.” After the state switched to lethal injection, he says, the pencil brand changed to “Velvet.” Koch pointed out the irony to a few corrections staffers. Thereafter, their pencils bore no consistent brand names.
A radio journalist since the 1970s, he has been a media witness to Florida executions since 1989. By his count, he has seen 81 of them. The tally includes 25 who died in the electric chair, and 56 who were killed by lethal injection. Two were women. A handful were botched. The work, he said, is no hobby. “The reason I do this,” he said, “is that I do a damn good job in 38 seconds to tell you what the state is doing in your name.”
“We nicknamed him Dr. Death,” said Wayne Littrell, the program director for WQHL. “He’s a throwback. He’s an old-fashioned radio reporter.”
The Department of Corrections reserves 12 seats in the witness room for the news media, with five print journalists selected by the Florida Press Association and five others selected by the Florida Association of Broadcasters. The other two spots are permanently reserved for The Associated Press and the Florida Radio Network.
When the crimes against humanity executions finally get underway for what was done over the past three years, they should be televised 24/7 on free channels so that all can witness the justice. Only in that way can future mass murderers and genocidal tyrants realize that justice will come and it will be final.
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