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Botched Execution, Again

Tsukasa Buddha

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Tsukasa Buddha
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Sep 10, 2006
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What was supposed to be the first of two executions here Tuesday night was halted when the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, began to twitch and gasp after he had already been declared unconscious and called out “man” and “something’s wrong,” according to witnesses.

The administering doctor intervened and discovered that “the line had blown,” said the director of corrections, Robert Patton, meaning that drugs were no longer flowing into his vein.

...

A doctor started to administer the first drug, a sedative intended to knock the man out, at 6:23. Ten minutes later, the doctor said that Mr. Lockett was unconscious, and started to administer the next two drugs, a paralytic and one intended to make the heart stop.

At that point, witnesses said, things began to go awry. Mr. Lockett’s body moved, his foot shook, and he mumbled, witnesses said.

At 6 :37, he tried to rise and exhaled loudly. At that point, prison officials pulled a curtain in front of the witnesses and the doctor discovered a “vein failure,” Mr. Patton said.

...

In keeping with the untried drug protocol announced by the Corrections Department this month, Mr. Lockett was first injected with midazolam, a benzodiazepine intended to render the prisoner unconscious and unable to feel pain. This was followed by injections of vecuronium bromide, a paralyzing agent that stops breathing, and then potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

This combination has been used in Florida, but with a much higher dose of midazolam than Oklahoma is planning to use. Without effective sedation, the second two drugs are known to cause agonizing suffocation and pain.

Oklahoma and other states have turned to compounding pharmacies — lightly regulated laboratories that mix up drugs to order. Opponents have raised questions about quality control, especially after the widely reported dying gasps of a convict in Ohio for more than 10 minutes, and an Oklahoma inmate’s utterance, “I feel my whole body burning,” after being injected with compounded drugs.

...

In March, it appeared that Mr. Lockett and Mr. Warner had won the right to know more about the drugs when an Oklahoma judge ruled that the secrecy law was unconstitutional. But the judge said she did not have the authority to grant the men stays of execution, sending the inmates into a Kafkaesque legal maze.

The state has an unusual court system, sending criminal appeals to a top criminal court and civil matters to its Supreme Court. The Court of Criminal Appeals repeatedly turned back the Supreme Court’s order to rule on a stay, while the attorney general insisted that the executions would go ahead.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court said that to avoid a miscarriage of justice, it would delay the executions until it had time to resolve the secrecy matter.

The next day, Governor Fallin, a Republican, said the Supreme Court had overstepped its powers, and directed officials to carry out both executions on April 29. An outraged legislator, Representative Mike Christian, said he would seek to impeach the justices, who were already under fire from conservative legislators for striking down laws the court deemed unconstitutional.

A constitutional crisis appeared to be brewing. But last Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced a decision on the secrecy issue — overturning the lower court and declaring that the executions could proceed.
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Linky.
 
Interesting because this very case was remarked on before, in this thread.


Fast Eddie B said:
Today, I switched over to MSNBC in my car for a little while, via Sirius.

Not my usual fare, but sometimes listenable, though sometimes not.

In any case there was a story about two inmates scheduled for execution receiving stays. The issue was the source and quality of the drugs used for lethal injection.

I am very much on the fence about capital punishment. But I thought it odd that in the entire piece no mention was made of the crimes the two were convicted of. It seems an important part of the story, to give some perspective to the severity of the punishment.

Do you think this was an unintentional oversight, or intentionally left out? And if intentional, what might have been the motive?
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So the execution was botched?
 
Is it too early to thank the governor of Oklahoma for being a dimwitted monster, demonstrating more than one (botched executions and due process issues being two) of the many good reasons to be against the death penalty?

Not that it'll change any minds, unfortunately. I'm sure many supporters of capital punishment have no problem with people suffering while being executed for their crimes.
 
Why is this multi-drug protocol required? Wouldn't a large dose of barbiturates by itself cause a painless death? What do veterinarians use to put large animals "to sleep?"
 
Babbylonian said:
Is it too early to thank the governor of Oklahoma for being a dimwitted monster, demonstrating more than one (botched executions and due process issues being two) of the many good reasons to be against the death penalty?

Not that it'll change any minds, unfortunately. I'm sure many supporters of capital punishment have no problem with people suffering while being executed for their crimes.
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Isn't that unconstitutional?
 
Botched execution in Oklahoma

ETA:

Sorry, there is already a thread on this.
 
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States executing people, botching executions, big deal, so what? I'm only going to get upset if you redistribute money from rich people to poor people because such scheming violates the bedrock principle of limited government.
 
Also.... what is so hard about putting a gun to a death row inmates had and pulling the trigger?... All this stuff about slow and painful.
 
Or better yet... Carbon monoxide poisoning... you here people dying of that all the time before they know it.
 
Cain said:
States executing people, botching executions, big deal, so what?
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You should be concerned that the State is distorting the market by creating a monopoly, eliminating competition, and stifling innovation.

The State asserts that only it has the right to kidnap and execute people, then it targets private citizens who commit the 'crime' of competing against it. Furthermore, the State continues to use antiquated and unreliable methods of execution, while refusing to allow innovations such as Mr. Lockett's technique of shooting the victim and then burying her alive.
 
I'm not saying I'm right... but it's funny how once you read what he actually did...... how little you care that he suffered a bit.
 
I assume that this drug cocktail is intended to reduce the suffering of the prisoner undergoing execution.
 
Caper said:
Also.... what is so hard about putting a gun to a death row inmates had and pulling the trigger?... All this stuff about slow and painful.
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I presume that the vast majority of people would suffer trauma from killing someone in this way and those that don't may have significant problems of their own.
 
Caper said:
I'm not saying I'm right... but it's funny how once you read what he actually did...... how little you care that he suffered a bit.
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Well that's your opinion, but it isn't mine. I'm against the death penalty in all cases but I recognise that the US has the right to be as barbaric as it wants. If the US is going to kill people then it should do so without unnecessary pain and suffering.
 
Bob001 said:
Why is this multi-drug protocol required? Wouldn't a large dose of barbiturates by itself cause a painless death? What do veterinarians use to put large animals "to sleep?"
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Some time ago a British newsman did a 1 hour doco on how to execute someone (humanely, if one must do it at all). He found that the most humane method was to place the executee in a hypobaric chamber without a helmet and run it up to 60,000 feet until the heart stopped. The person experiences first euphoria, then unconsciousness, then death; no muss, no fuss, no doubts. When he asked a Texas state prosecutor why this wasn't done, the answer was simple: it didn't give the state the required pound of painful flesh that the Bible says is due; vengeance wasn't served. It didn't hurt enough.

He would pick Texas.
 
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The Don said:
Well that's your opinion, but it isn't mine. I'm against the death penalty in all cases but I recognise that the US has the right to be as barbaric as it wants. If the US is going to kill people then it should do so without unnecessary pain and suffering.
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Absolutely. And safe and humane protocols for drug-induced death exist. It is remarkable, to say the least, that in the Netherlands alone, there are a few thousand cases of euthanasia per year without a hiccup, while the US authorities don't manage to execute slightly over 100 inmates without recurring scandals of botched executions.

The wiki page on Lethal injection is illuminating in this regard. The EU has banned export at least one drug involved, and the single US domestic manufacturer refuses to sell to prisons, and has forbidden its retailers to do the same. Maybe you should buy them in China? There, they love executions. :rolleyes:
 
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