NATION IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Inquiry Ordered After Execution

A man who murdered two police officers 14 years ago was put to death in the electric chair at Florida State Prison near Starke. After the execution of Jessie Joseph Tafero, Gov. Bob Martinez requested an investigation of technical problems. Tafero, 43, who was condemned for the shooting deaths of Highway Patrol Trooper Phillip Black and visiting Canadian constable Donald Irwin, died at 7:13 a.m. When the executioner first turned the switch at 7:07 a.m., flames rose from the hood over Tafero’s head. The executioner interrupted the current, and officials determined a wet sponge on Tafero’s head caught fire, said state Corrections Department spokesman Bob Macmaster. He quoted Dr. Frank Kilgo, the prison’s chief medical officer, as saying: “I believe he was unconscious the minute the current hit him.”