EDITOR'S NOTE: Chronicle reporter Adam Folk was an official witness to Tuesday night's execution of Mark McClain for a 1994 Augusta murder. He describes what it looks like inside the death chamber.
JACKSON, Ga. -- A guard to my right breathed a deep yawn as I, along with more than 20 others, watched a man slowly die Tuesday night.
Without the knowing the gravity of the situation, it would have been easy to let my mind wander too, as 15 minutes slowly ticked by and the potassium chloride worked to stop convicted murderer Mark McClain’s heart.
There’s a cold precision to the lethal injection process that stretches beyond the point where the needle point pierced Mr. McClain’s vein.
I felt it from the moment I drove into the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison and guards tied a yellow plastic ribbon around my wrist. The ribbon meant I was confined to a yellow-roped off portion of the sprawling, wooded prison grounds – safely kept within a media area and away from state inmates a short distance up the drive.
A minivan would take me, along with an escort and two attorneys, to the compact room behind a red-colored door. I sat on the first of several wooden pew-like benches that wouldn’t have looked out-of-place at a Sunday morning service. The only difference might have been the piles of brown paper bags. I could only assume the bags were there if someone got sick.
As the designated monitor, I was the lone media representative tasked with watching nurses prepare Mr. McClain for his death.
I was inches away from the glass.
When the door opened, the warden entered first, then the guards, then Mr. McClain. He barely glanced our way as he lay down on the table and was strapped into place. His expression never changed.
We were told he had no visitors before the execution. Mr. McClain’s parents are dead and so are the parents of the victim, Kevin Brown. Instead, he had a room filled with more than 20 people who were there because of work or requirement to watch him die.
When he was prepared, they brought in the other reporters, along with the sheriff's investigator who put him in jail and an attorney from Augusta.
With no noise, we watched as the drugs were automatically pumped into his veins -- as his normally ruddy complexion flushed red.
We waited.
His chest heaved violently for about a minute then stopped.
His face turned purple. Then gray. Then white.
A housefly danced upon the white sheet that covered Mr. McClain’s legs. It was the only movement in the room.
Finally, a pair of doctors lifted his lifeless eyelids with their fingers and listened to make sure there was no heartbeat.
The process was complete and Mr. McClain was dead.
We left the room quickly and I didn't look back.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
He wont kill again.
What is wrong with public hangings?
What is wrong with public hangings?
Sounds scary
One less murderer in the world, one less person living off of our tax dollars in prison.
He's now gone, knew he would be gone. So why are reporter's wasting space even talking about it? Most could care less what he went through or how the process went. Find something WORTHWHILE to report on next time!
It galls me that this reporter refers to this piece of crap as "Mr"! Where I come from, this is denoted as a sign of respect. Mr. Folk should have added the letters "urdere" between the "M" and the "r".
If I was there, I would've danced with Mr. Housefly on the sheets.
Was this article necessary?
Yeah, really... was this article necessary? I don't think anyone benefits from vivid descriptions of an inmate's execution. Except maybe some of the weird commenting freaks above who seemed to enjoy it.
Is it necessary to write elementary comments on this website? "kill him, urinate and defecate on him, hang him, burn him, broadcast it on pay-per-view". I'm assuming most of the posters on this article/website are Christian. If he has asked God for forgiveness and is truly sorry for what he did, then everything should be okay, right? if not, he is experiencing an infinite amount suffering that is unimaginable to the human mind.
Deerhunter, do you ask for God's forgiveness before you pull the trigger on that poor defenseless buck you have in your crosshairs?
2 comments here: First off, about the title of this article, "...procedure appears cold, precise, and final"? Well, you dang right it's FINAL, buddy! It's about as final as you can get. Secondly, ufab4ea, without getting into semantics, philosophy, nor religion, that buck you talked about was put onto this earth to provide as FOOD for us humans. Do you think the same way when you eat your hamburger, your chicken fingers, your steak, your bacon, etc?? Not unless your a vegetarian. BTW, slide over so you and I can BOTH dance with Mr. Housefly!
They killed a killer, the reported covered it, and printed his version of the events..................Wish they could have done it downtown by the James Brown statue for all to witness and talk about.
It's sad what our world has come to. Such hatred all in the name of justice. He did wrong. He paid the price. God has judged him now. The world is finally free of another murderer but no better off because people now want to spit on his grave. Life is hard enough right now. Nothing positive will result from continued trashing of an executed murderer. Give it to God and let him deal with it. Wish the paper would print something positive and uplifiting for a change.
you know if i am fixing to die i believe i would have prayed beforehand. and 2nd i don't understand how he got the death penalty when he killed one person and some people in jail have killed many many more and yet they did not get it..we are still paying for the bums in there..could someone please explain to me how this stupid thing works...
i believe death penalty cases are up to the district atty's office.
McClain had a choice in 1994
Those of you complaining about the article being written, took the time to read and comment on it. The reporter has successfully completed his job.
I find it disgusting that we still have the death penalty in this country. It is state-sanctioned murder. We kill people to prove that killing people is wrong? Makes no sense. He might be a murderer, but he is still a human being. The death penalty is not justice, it is vengeance. Jesus said, "Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone." We have no right to play God and say who should live or die. It's also disgusting that the almighty dollar has become so important that people value it over a persons life. They want to kill him because they think it will save them a tax dollar. In reality, the death penalty costs more to enforce than does life in prison. The State spends millions to carry out each execution. We are no better than the murderer when we execute a person. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Let he who have not sinned, cast the first stone. Judge ye not, lest be judged.
It is disgusting to find joy and satisfaction in the death of another human being. Our society has major problems.
I remember Mark as a child in the neighborhood where I grew up. My heart broke yesterday when I saw him on the front of the chronicle.
My heart goes out to his father, brother, and sister who I remember so well and are living this nightmare.
Also my heart breaks for the victim's family.
It is just sad...
GregT, you are exactly right. What's wrong with these people?
They scare me.