Tuesday night’s botched
execution in Oklahoma, which resulted in an inmate’s writhing death from a
heart attack 43 minutes after he received what was supposed to be a lethal
injection, was just one in a series of bungled execution attempts the past few
years. It’s prompting calls for a moratorium on capital punishment from death
penalty opponents.
The inmate, Clayton
Lockett, was confirmed unconscious 10 minutes after the first dose in the
state’s new three-drug protocol was administered. The first drug, midazolam, is
intended to render a person unconscious. But three minutes later, he began
breathing heavily, thrashing and straining to lift his head, media witnesses
said.
Reporters for Tulsa
World and KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City said Lockett called out from
the gurney, “man.”
The blinds were then
lowered to prevent people in the viewing gallery from seeing inside the death
chamber. Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton
answered a ringing phone and left the room with a few officials.
Patton told reporters
Lockett’s vein line had “blown.” When asked what he meant, Patton said the
vein had “exploded.”
Soon afterward, an alarmed
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin stayed for 14 days the other execution that was
scheduled for Tuesday night, the Associated Press reported.
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