Howard said, “visually, this (an
execution) is less than you expect.
“Maybe it’s that we live in a world
of Arnold Schwartzenegger films
where special effects, at least visu
ally, represent a graphic reality, are
more graphic than reality than when
you see it in the flesh.”
Howard said the impact of the ex
ecution was not visual, but psychic.
“Psychically, it’s an experience that
stays with you,” he said. “Does this
change your life? I suppose, but I
don’t know how.”
But several of the witnesses said
they would, if given the chance, watch
another execution. But, they said, they
would not do it for personal reasons —
they would do it for journalistic reasons.
Howard, who said he had done
many interviews about his first expe
rience with an execution, repeated his
reasons for witnessing executions for
the media.
“I am willing to do this job because
number one, it is my job, and number
two, because I genuinely believe that
the taking of a human life is the ulti
mate business that the state conducts
in the name of the people,” he said.
“And the state’s business ought
not be carried out behind closed
doors.”
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Effie Johnson, left, comforts John Joubert’s girlfriend, Theresa O’Brien, outside of the Nebraska
State Penitentiary minutes before the execution Wednesday. O’Brien, who lives in Ireland, stayed
with Johnson while visiting with Joubert this week.
Center: A death penalty
supporter, Tabitha Miller,
right, brings her 5-month-old
son, Nathan, to the Nebraska
State Penitentiary for the
execution of John Joubert.
(Photo by Tanna Kinnaman)
Above: Even children held
signs Tuesday night,
including this one taped to a
child’s toy. (Photo by Marni
Speck)
