Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Page #3

the inmate doesn't go home

and the guard does.

And now, at the end of

this ten or fifteen-year cycle,

they now are faced with the task

of executing this man...

with equipment

that's defective,

with equipment

that's gonna cause pain.

Even with

a good execution...

you get some burning

at the electrodes.

It's a very

distasteful thing...

for the guard who

has to unstrap the inmate

from the electric chair...

after the execution.

Normally, if we think of a belt

with holes in it and the pin

that goes through the holes,

that guard has to then

compress all the flesh

and everything on the body.

It's oozing,

because it's been cooked.

He has to get the body fluids

on his hands.

With the equipment

we designed,

all of the straps

are instant-release.

They're the same

as the safety belts in your car.

You hit a button

and the strap opens.

Another thing that we do is,

our electric chair

contains a drip pan.

All executees,

during the execution,

lose control

of their bodily functions.

They urinate and defecate

in their pants, on their chair.

This normally winds up

on the chair and on the floor

directly beneath the chair.

This is a disgusting thing

when it occurs.

It's a very inhumane thing

to allow a person

who's being executed,

a human being...

who should be afforded

the greatest dignity of all

because he is losing his life--

It's a disgusting

and a degrading thing

to allow him to defecate...

and, quite frankly,

piss on the floor.

Additionally,

the urine,

when it hits the floor--

and I think everybody knows that

urine is highly conductive--

it's normally mopped up.

If there's a second execution

or a third execution--

and this sometimes occurs

when they have more than one

execution at the same time--

the guards in the death house

now have to work and stand

on a floor...

that's dampened and wet...

with this

highly conductive urine.

Fortunately, there has

never been an accident.

But it's quite possible for

the urine to conduct electricity

and shock a guard.

And nobody should have to

place his life in jeopardy...

because an execution

is being conducted.

This is much the same thing

that goes on

with the gas chambers.

With the defective equipment

that exists,

every time

there's a gas execution...

it's an accident

waiting to happen.

There is a major danger

of leakage,

and I honestly believe

and I wish...

that those remaining few states

that are utilizing gas...

would do away

with the gas chamber...

and go to lethal injection

or some other procedure...

which wouldn't place in danger

the lives of witnesses

and prison officials...

who have to be at that execution

to see that the execution

conforms with the law.

Being familiar with

all of the four systems

that we use,

I would much rather

be electrocuted,

providing that you were gonna

electrocute me on the system

that's in Tennessee.

I don't want to be

electrocuted in Virginia.

I don't want to be

electrocuted in Florida.

I don't want to be

electrocuted in Alabama.

I don't want to be Mr. Tafero

or have my eyeballs

blown across the room.

I'd like the execution procedure

to go smoothly.

I have often been asked,

generally by some type

of adverse party,

whether I sleep at night,

or how well I sleep at night.

My answer

is always the same.

I sleep very well at night,

and I sleep with

the comforting thought...

of knowing that those persons

that are being executed

with my equipment,

that these people

have a better chance...

of having a painless,

more humane

and dignified execution.

Been drinking coffee

for a long time,

since I was, probably,

around four or five years old.

Yes, it's still true.

I love coffee.

I think it's running

through my veins.

Coffee never

bothers the ulcer,

but I remember,

must be 15, 20 years ago

when I went to the doctor--

He was asking me, "How much

coffee do you drink a day ?"

" About 40 cups. "

So he's writing it down.

"How much coffee do you drink

a day ?" " About 40 cups. "

He says, "How much coffee

do you drink a day ?"

And I says, " About 40 cups. "

He says,

"Look, I'm not kidding. "

I says, "I'm not either. "

He said, "Oh?

How much do you smoke a day ?"

I said, " About six packs. "

He said,

"Six packs of cigarettes,

You should be dead by now. "

[ Laughs ]

If I don't drink the coffee,

I get headaches.

They're terrible.

My body's

so used to the caffeine

that it doesn't bother me.

I'm asleep before my head

hits the pillow.

Somewhere along the line,

she just appeared.

I was a good tipper,

and she used to bring me

extra coffee.

[ Woman ] I was a waitress,

he was a customer.

I was working nights.

He'd come in on his way

to the gun club.

He taught me how to shoot.

I have a.22.

This guy Joe asked me

if I knew what Fred did

for a living.

I said "No, " and he said,

"He kills people. "

That kind of surprised me...

until he explained

exactly what he did,

which wasn't

that he killed people,

but he made things

that killed people.

He was having problems

at home with his mother.

She wasn't talking to him,

and we just got married.

Because of my expertise

in the construction

of execution equipment,

I was asked to testify...

by the defense team...

of Mr. Ernst Zndel,

a German national

living in Canada

for some 20-odd years...

who published a pamphlet.:

"Did Six Million Really Die?"

[ Reporter ]

As in most of

his public appearances,

Ernst Zndel arrived at court

surrounded by supporters

wearing hard hats.

They are bodyguards

for a man who says

the Holocaust is a myth...

and who's prepared to argue that

before a judge and jury.

Zndel is charged

under a rarely used section

of the criminal code...

that he published statements

he knew were false,

statements that could cause

racial intolerance.

Forty-five years

of undetermined hatred

is enough.

The Holocaust is nothing

but undetermined

hate propaganda...

posing as history.

l, with the help of my friends

from around the world,

Jews and gentiles,

am going to finish

the Second World War,

I guarantee you.

[ Zndel ]

We can solve the mystery

of the gas chambers...

in Auschwitz

and all these other places...

if we find

an American expert,

because America

is the only country that

dispatches people with gas.

You can't open up

the phone book and say "gas,"

then "chamber," then "experts,"

and out come

ten Fred Leuchters.

No, there's nobody.

Fred Leuchter

was our only hope.

[ Leuchter ]

We were married for less

than a month when we went.

Although she doesn't

like to hear it,

I normally tell her

that was her honeymoon.

That's not

a particularly good place

to go for a honeymoon, Poland.

Every American,

it would have done them good

to visit there.

Then they would have appreciated

what we've got here.

Specifically, I brought

Carol and my draftsman

Howard Miller.

Sent with us from Canada...

was a cinematographer

who videotaped

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