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“Oh, it’s hurting so bad.”

Three minutes after Byron Black began receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison on Tuesday, he lifted his head off of the gurney he was strapped to and groaned. Whether it was the effects of the drug, which can cause pulmonary edema (or fluid in the lungs), or shocks to his heart from the defibrillator implanted in his chest, Black was in obvious distress. His spiritual adviser, the Rev. Monica Coakley, sang to comfort him.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Just listen to

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