There shall be present at the execution of the sentence of death, the Commissioner of Corrections or in case of his or her disability, the keeper, the person who is to perform the execution and his or her assistant, such persons as the Commissioner shall designate, and two physicians approved by the Commissioner. The physicians present shall be the legal witnesses of the execution. There may also be present the sheriff of the county in which the condemned was convicted or one of his or her deputies approved by him or her, such clergyman as the condemned may desire, and not more than three other persons to be selected by the Commissioner. There shall be paid to the person actually performing the execution and to his or her assistant such sums for services and expenses as the Commissioner shall approve. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 13.)