要說零痛苦，那估計是胡扯，因為只要是人來執行，就難免出現失誤，比如毒氣放多了或者放少了，毒氣泄露波及室外的人，一切均有可能。毒氣室執行死刑，目前在美國某些州可能還在執行，這不我寫了篇文章導讀 【註：該小說為虛構作品】 ，裏面詳細介紹了毒氣室執行死刑的具體流程、方法，還拍成了電影，一起來看看吧：
"Everything went wrong. Have you seen the chamber?"
"Not yet."
"There's a little room off to the side where the executioner mixes his solution. The sulfuric acid is in a canister which he takes from his little laboratory to a tube running into the bottom of the chamber. With Meeks, the executioner was drunk."
"Come on, Sam."
"I didn't see him, okay. But everyone knows he was drunk. State law designates an official state executioner, and the warden and his gang didn't think about it until just a few hours before the execution. Keep in mind, no one thought Meeks would die. We were all waiting on a last minute stay, because he'd been through it twice already. But there was no stay, and they scrambled around at the last minute trying to locate the official state executioner. They found him, drunk. He was a plumber, I think. Anyway,his first batch of brew didn't work. He placed the canister into the tube, pulled a lever,and everyone waited for Meeks to take a deep breath and die. Meeks held his breath as long as he could, then inhaled. Nothing happened. They waited. Meeks waited. The witnesses waited. Everybody slowly turned to the executioner, who was also waiting and cussing. He went back to his little room, and fixed up another mix of sulfuric acid. Then he had to retrieve the old canister from the chute, and that took ten minutes. The warden and Lucas Mann and the rest of the goons were standing around waiting and fidgeting and cussing this drunk plumber, who finally plugged in the new canister and pulled the lever..............................
孫子給判了死刑的爺爺做辯護律師——背後有哪些不為人知的故事？
一、是「壞人變老」還是「老人變壞」
這位被判了死刑的爺爺，因為年輕時沒少幹壞事：1、與他人共同對一個黑人實施私刑——絞刑；2、因孩子糾紛，槍殺自家雇工——黑人孩子的爸爸；3、與3K黨分子，共同對猶太民權律師的辦公室實施爆炸，最終導致猶太律師的雙胞胎兒子被炸飛，猶太律師雙腿被截肢。第3項行為導致「壞人」入獄兩次，但在美國仇視黑人的黑暗年代，「壞人」兩進兩出，被判無罪。回家繼續生活，「壞人」慢慢變老。
"You don't think I'll be convicted?"
"Hell no. Listen, Sam, take my word for it. We'll get us a jury full of patriots, your kind of people, Sam. All white. All worried about their little children being forced to go to schools with little nigger kids. Good people, Sam. We'll pick twelve of 'em, put 'em in the jury box, and explain to 'em how these stinkin' Jews have encouraged all this civil rights nonsense. Trust me, Sam, it'll be easy." With that, Clovis leaned across the shaky table, patted Sam on the arm, and said, "Trust me, Sam, I've done it before."
二、社會變了，「變老的壞人」第三次入獄
隨著美國種族歧視反抗運動的激烈進行，「變老的壞人」成為政客吸引選票的工具，第三次入獄並被判死刑，「變老的壞人」在獄中仍不放棄學習，自學法律並成才，不斷上訴拖延死刑的執行，因為在那個年代，在密西西比執行死刑的方式，既不是註射死，也不是電椅，而是毒氣毒死，壞人雖壞，但也不想這麽死去。
三、從未謀面的孫子，為了弄清自己父親自殺的原因，挺身為爺爺辯護
主人公與爺爺從未謀面，因為主人公的父親，羞於與其父親這樣的人為伍，因為父親幹了這麽多壞事，其索性更換姓名，不斷更換家庭地址，為的就是與原生家庭斷絕關系。在得知其父親被判死刑後，其選擇在主人公的房間自殺結束自己的一生，並給主人公留下字條：回家後看到我的屍體，盡快清理，不要讓媽媽和妹妹看到嚇到她們。主人公就是在這樣的原生家庭下長大，他始終對父親自殺不理解，所以想透過爺爺去了解真相。
四、距離爺爺進「毒氣室」還有30天，留給辯護律師的時間不多了
孫子在這將近30天沒少做工作，其一直懷疑爺爺不是單獨實施的爆炸，因為其並不具有設定定時炸彈的專業知識，事實上也的確是這樣，還有一個人一直逍遙法外，但爺爺對此選擇了保密，包括很多原因。爺孫倆整天研究美國法律，對毒氣執行方式的殘忍性，向州最高法院提出上訴，被駁回後又向美國最高法院申請延緩執行死刑，但結果都不太符合預期。
"Now, let me get this straight," Robichaux interrupted in a high-pitched voice. "You don't
want your client to die in the gas chamber because it's a cruel way to go, but are you telling us you don't mind if he's executed by lethal injection?"
"No, Your Honor. That's not what I'm saying. I do not want my client executed by any method."
"But lethal injection is the least offensive?"
"All methods are offensive, but lethal injection seems to be the least cruel. There's no doubt the gas chamber is a horrible way to die."
"Worse than being bombed? Blown up by dynamite?"
「變壞的老人」結局如何？是否更換死刑方式？欲知後事如何，請閱讀格裏森姆的【The Chamber】，透過該書可以對美國的死刑制度有一個基本的了解。該書已拍成電影，感興趣的可以自行尋找觀看。
