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Oklahoma Delays Execution After Botched Lethal Injection

Oklahoma Delays Execution After Botched Lethal Injection

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

Oklahoma’s attorney general agreed Thursday to delay for six months an execution that had been scheduled to take place hours after last week’s botched lethal injection of Clayton Lockett.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office agreed to reschedule the execution of Charles Warner for Nov. 13, pending a review of execution protocols by the state’s public safety commissioner, according to a filing by Assistant Attorney General Seth Branham in the Court of Criminal Appeals.

In a separate filing Thursday, the attorney general’s office said the state plans to set an execution date in the next 60 days for convicted murderer Richard Glossip, “to provide certainty to the public” and the victim’s family. Glossip, 51, an Oklahoma City motel manager, was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of the motel’s owner.

Both filings noted that the governor has committed to stay all executions pending the state review by Commissioner Michael Thompson.

“I support the decision to delay Charles Warner’s execution,” Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. “It is important to give Commissioner Thompson time to conduct his review of the Department of Corrections’ protocol, and then to train DOC employees on any protocol improvements that might be made.”

Warner’s attorneys had requested at least a six-month stay after Lockett’s lethal injection on April 29. They said in court documents that because Lockett’s execution went “horribly wrong,” the appeals court should compel the state to provide evidence that officials can “carry out a humane, constitutional execution.”

“Very glad to see the state acknowledge a stay is necessary, given their inability to carry out a constitutional execution right now,” Warner’s attorney, Madeline Cohen, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, “We hope the court acts quickly to enter the stay.”

Warner’s attorneys had hoped for an indefinite stay pending the state review, but the attorney general’s office disagreed, saying it was unnecessary because the state would notify the court if more time was needed to complete the investigation.

Warner, 46, was originally scheduled to die hours after Lockett for the 1997 murder and rape of his girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter.

Lockett, 38, received the death penalty for the 1999 murder of a 19-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped, shot and buried alive.

Fallin had pushed for the executions, battling with state courts and citing the heinousness of the crimes. After Lockett’s death, she insisted that justice had been served, but postponed Warner’s execution for two weeks and ordered what she described as an independent review by Thompson.

Oklahoma is among several states that have begun using a new mix of lethal injection drugs after manufacturers facing international protests stopped distributing previously used drugs. After Lockett was injected with the new mix of drugs, witnesses said, the inmate twitched and writhed, muttering until he was obscured from view by prison officials.

Those officials later said a vein had ruptured; about 40 minutes after the execution began, he suffered a heart attack and died.

Fallin asked the Dallas medical examiner’s office to handle Lockett’s autopsy, which is expected to take months.

Critics, including Lockett’s attorneys and some Oklahoma state lawmakers, have demanded that all executions be stayed pending a review by a non-state agency.

President Barack Obama has called the botched execution “deeply disturbing” and last week ordered U.S. Justice Department officials to review how the death penalty is carried out by the states.

Photo: Ken Piorkowski via Flickr

Oklahoma Governor Pledges Independent Review After Botched Execution

Oklahoma Governor Pledges Independent Review After Botched Execution

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin promised an independent review of the state’s execution protocols Wednesday after a bungled execution raised questions about the state’s handling of capital punishment.

The Republican governor emphasized, however, that she has faith that state officials were legally correct in proceeding with the execution over the objections of defense lawyers.

“I believe the legal process worked,” Fallin said, “I believe the death penalty is an appropriate response and punishment for those who commit heinous crimes.”

Witnesses have said that convicted murderer Clayton Lockett began writhing and mumbling after prison officials administered the lethal injection Tuesday and also was twitching on the gurney. Officials said Lockett subsequently died of a heart attack.

A second execution had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Fallin postponed it for two weeks.

At a Wednesday briefing at the capitol, Fallin said she will postpone that execution again if the review by the state’s public safety commissioner is not completed by then.

The review, she said, will focus on determining Lockett’s cause of death and the procedures by which it was carried out, along with evaluating the state’s execution standards.

She said the state medical examiner will authorize an independent pathologist to determine Lockett’s cause of death.

“It will be the first step in evaluating our state’s execution protocols,” Fallin said.

Fallin declined to comment when asked whether she had in effect stayed executions indefinitely.

She also declined to react to a White House statement Wednesday saying Locket’s execution fell short of humane standards.

Fallin had been an ardent supporter of Lockett’s execution, promising to carry it out despite a stay from the state’s Supreme Court.

Lockett, 38, was convicted of shooting a 19-year-old woman in 1999 and burying her alive. The inmate whose execution Fallon stayed, Charles Warner, 46, was convicted in the rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl in 1997.

Fallin detailed their crimes during Wednesday’s briefing, and reiterated her belief that justice had been served.

She said Lockett “was convicted at trial by a jury of his peers” and “had his day in court.”

“Charles Warner also had his day in court — he also committed a horrific crime,” she said, “His fellow Oklahomans have sentenced him to death and we expect that sentence to be carried out.”

The condemned men’s lawyers had objected to the executions on the grounds that the state would not disclose the source of the drugs being used to carry them out.

Their appeal was supported by a state court in March, and created substantial controversy among Oklahoma’s highest courts and elected officials.

Fallin defied the state Supreme Court’s order for a delay. A legislator sought to impeach the justices. But the unusual double execution was eventually cleared to proceed.

Oklahoma is one of several states that have grappled with shortages of lethal injection drugs.

Drug companies, fearful of protests, have refused to supply some of the drugs. Some states have responded by switching drugs, then declining to release information about the new drugs and who had supplied them, citing concern for the welfare of suppliers.

Oklahoma officials have defended the drugs they use.

After Fallin spoke, Oklahoma state lawmakers outraged by the execution called a briefing at the Capitol with local NAACP and ACLU leaders. They planned to discuss a proposed joint resolution that would call for a yearlong moratorium on executions. A defense attorney was also expected to address the possibility of bringing a lawsuit against the state concerning its lethal injection methods and the drugs used.

AFP Photo/Caroline Groussain