Executions are becoming so common these days, most are not big news. Some are not even news. All of us opposed to the death penalty must continue to pay attention. Here's a portion of an excellent news account of the execution yesterday of Tommy Jerry Fortenberry in Alabama who spent the last 17 years of his life on Death Row. He was 20 years old at the time of the murders for which he was executed.

"No last words" Fortenberry said seconds before he was administered the first of three different drugs that comprised a lethal injection that took his life in the death chamber at Holman prison. Fortenberry, 39, was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

As the execution began at 6 p.m., Fortenberry lay mostly still on a white gurney in the stark white execution chamber. He said nothing else, but motioned twice to his spiritual adviser, Ben Sherrod of Kairos Prison Ministry, and another witness, showing them the international hand sign for "I love you."

Fortenberry nodded several times to the witnesses, but mostly lay still as the color slowly drained from his face. After a few minutes, his eyes closed and his chin quivered several times. Finally, he was still. There were no sounds in the death chamber.

"Punishment is not in the dying. It's in the 19 years of hell he's lived through," Sherrod said quietly as the curtain on the window separating the witness room from the death chamber was pulled shut, indicating that Fortenberry was dead.