misrepresentations began to unravel. The Attorney
General of Alabama questioned his expertise. Illinois
terminated his contract after determining that his
machine for injecting cyanide would cause prisoners
unnecessary pain.
The Alabama warden's actions were in response to Leuchter's
having testified against the Florida prison system when an
inmate brought suit against her electrocution sentence on the
basis that the antiquated equipment there constituted cruel
and unusual punishment, which it demonstrably did. The
Alabama produced letter to other wardens warned them that if
Leuchter tried to sell them equipment and they refused to buy,
he might wind up testifying against them. This libelous and
career threatening action might have brought great financial
penalty on him and the state of Alabama were not Leuchter by
this time a sufficient pariah who saw no hope of getting a fair
shake in court. The comments regarding Illinois describe only
an excuse given which has no basis in reality.
Then, in October 1990, Leuchter was charged with
fraud in Massachusetts. It was revealed that he had
only a bachelor's degree in history, and was not
licensed to practice engineering in Massachusetts. In
June 1991, to avoid a trial in which he would surely
have been convicted, Leuchter admitted that, "I am
not and have never been registered as a professional
engineer", and that he had falsely represented himself
as one. Under the consent agreement, Leuchter
agreed to stop "using in any manner whatsoever the
title 'engineer'", and to stop distribution of the
Leuchter report.
See comments above about this charge. Leuchter did not at
any time advertise himself as a "professional engineer" but
only as an "execution engineer." He never "falsely
represented himself as one" as Shallit states. It is not even
illegal for him to advertise and work as an execution engineer
unless one would seriously make the case that this involves
public safety. It is not illegal in Massachussets to work and
advertise as an engineer in a great many areas. Shallit's
comment is based on surmise which is in turn based on
ignorance of the terminologies and their meanings. The
difference between "professional engineer" and "engineer" is
not a trivial distinction. The title "Professional Engineer"
(Massachussets equivalent "licensed engineer" in other
locations "state certified engineer") is that used to legally
certify documents as correct, and the certifier must in many
states (but far from all) have certain qualifications (which vary)
to do this. Such a certification places all liability on the
certifying engineer for any errors, and absolves others of
blame for implementing his mistakes--hence the legal