Dead Man Walking (1995)

Robert Prosky: Hilton Barber

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Quotes 

• Hilton Barber : [at Matthew Poncelet's appeals hearing]  The death penalty. It's nothin' new; it's been with us for centuries. We've buried people alive; lopped off their heads with an axe; burned them alive at a public square... gruesome spectacles. In this century, we kept searchin' for more and more *humane* ways... of killin' people that we didn't like. We've shot 'em with firing squads; suffocated 'em, in the gas chamber. But now... Now we have developed a device that is the most humane of all. Lethal injection. We strap the guy up. We anesthetize him with shot number one; then we give him shot number two, and that implodes his lungs, and shot number three stops... his heart. We put 'em to death just like an old horse. His face just, goes to sleep, while, inside, his organs are going through armageddon. The muscles of his face would twist, and contort, and pull, but you see, shot number one relaxes all those muscles so we don't have to see any horror show... We don't have to taste the blood of revenge on our lips, while this, human being's organs writhe, and twist, and contort... We just sit there, quietly. Nod our heads, and say: 'Justice has been done.'