Just after 6pm on December 13, 2006, Angel Nieves Diaz grimaced in pain and jutted his head as a lethal cocktail of drugs was pumped into the convicted killer's body.

Witnesses looked on in horror as he struggled to speak and coughed before his body shuddered while strapped to a gurney in the ensuing ten minutes.

By then he should have been dead, but the execution was botched from the beginning – needles were mistakenly inserted into soft tissue in his arm instead of veins, resulting in horrific chemical burns.

He remained conscious and at one point asked: "What's going on?"

Diaz, 55, appeared to stop moving but his body suddenly "jolted" in the 24th minute and he opened his eyes widely, sparking panic in the death chamber in Florida's state prison.

By the time he was finally pronounced dead, two full doses were administered and the execution lasted 34 minutes instead of the usual ten to 15.

It was clear the convicted murderer suffered as chemical burns turned the skin on his arms black and caused the outer layer to tear away, exposing pink and white flesh.

Abnormal swelling in his neck suggested he may have struggled for air during one of the worst botched executions of all time.

The gruesome death sparked immediate outrage, forcing then-governor Jeb Bush, the brother of then-president George W Bush, to temporarily suspend executions so Florida's lethal injection protocol could be reviewed.

The murder

Born in Puerto Rico, career criminal Diaz was 28 when he and two friends held up a strip club – the Velvet Swing Lounge – in Miami on December 29, 1979.

Bar manager Joseph Nagy was shot dead during the robbery while most of the terrified customers and staff were locked in a toilet.

The murder went unsolved until 1983, when Diaz's then-girlfriend told the police that he was involved.

Diaz was arrested and in 1986 was put on trial, where he represented himself even though he barely spoke English and there were claims he wasn't competent.

He pleaded not guilty and in his defence he claimed that a co-defendant, Angel Toro, was responsible for the murder.

But he was found guilty and sentenced to death in an 8-4 vote by a jury.

The prosecution's case relied on evidence from Ralph Gajus, an inmate who claimed Diaz had confessed in jail to shooting Mr Nagy.

Diaz's legal team later produced a sworn declaration from Gajus, who admitted that he had lied because he was angry with Diaz after being left out of a previous escape attempt and the police had promised to help him with the charges he was facing at the time.

Despite Diaz's claims that he was convicted based on bogus testimony and faulty evidence, his last-ditch appeals – including one challenging the chemicals used – were denied.

The governor refused to grant clemency as the convicted killer's date in the execution chamber approached.

For his part, Toro accepted a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to life in prison.

The execution

Almost 27 years after the strip club murder, Diaz was put to death at the state prison in rural upstate Florida.

He refused to order a last meal and was served a meal off the menu of the day – shredded turkey, shredded cheese, rice, pinto beans and tortilla shells, along with apple crisp for dessert and iced tea to drink.

In his final statement, he said in Spanish: "The state of Florida is killing an innocent person. The state of Florida is committing a crime, because I am innocent.

"The death penalty is not only a form of vengeance, but also a cowardly act by humans.

"I'm sorry for what is happening to me and my family who have been put through this."

Diaz was restrained on a gurney and the curtain opened at 6pm local time on December 13, 2006, as witnesses – including journalists, a chaplain and prison staff – watched.

After the final statement, three drugs were pumped into Diaz – one intended to dull his pain, a second to paralyse his body and a third to stop his heart.

At 6.02pm he was seen grimacing and appearing to say something.

Four minutes later he continued to move and blink his eyes and his chin jutted as if he was in pain. The movements continued for a few more minutes.

At one point, he was heard muttering: "What's going on?"

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