OK massively, horrifically botches execution

[NewOrleans]

::shudder::

According to reporters tweeting from inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, the execution of Clayton D. Lockett has failed. Lockett died of a heart attack after the execution was aborted.

The execution of Charles Warner, which was supposed to take place at 9 p.m. ET., was stayed by Corrections Director Robert Patton.

According to the AP reporter on the scene, about 34 minutes after the execution was scheduled to begin, Lockett was still conscious.

"He was lifting [his] head at [7:39 p.m. ET.] and he was still alive and DOC closed [the] curtain and stopped it," Cary Aspinwall tweets.

Patton told reporters that Lockett's vein failed during the execution, preventing the chemicals from entering his body. All three drugs, however, were administered.

At 8:06 p.m. ET., more than an hour after the execution was scheduled to begin, Lockett died of a massive heart attack.

In the weeks leading up to the execution, there had been much controversy over the combination of drugs the state was going to use for the execution.

Warner's attorney, Madeline Cohen, called the proposed execution method "experimental."

This botched execution follows a controversial one undertaken in Ohio in January. As we reported, when that state executed Dennis McGuire with a new cocktail of drugs, it took 24 minutes for him to die and he gasped for air and made snorting and choking sounds for at least 10 minutes.

Ohio ultimately found that McGuire did not suffer pain.

Our Original Post Continues:

A long legal and political battle in Oklahoma is scheduled to culminate this evening with a double execution.

The state is poised to execute Clayton D. Lockett, 38, and Charles F. Warner, 46, using a relatively new combination of drugs.

Over the past few months, the United States has seen a flurry of legal challenges to death sentences, because drug companies, citing political and physical threats, have stopped supplying states with traditional execution drugs.

States, in turn, have been using novel combinations for executions and have refused to reveal the names of their suppliers because they say doing so would jeopardize the relationship.

As we've reported, a lower-court judge in Oklahoma ordered the state to delay the executions because of the uncertainty surrounding the drugs. That case worked its way up the court system where there was some tension. The AP reports:

"The case, filed as a civil matter, placed Oklahoma's two highest courts at odds and prompted calls for the impeachment of state Supreme Court justices after the court last week issued a rare stay of execution. The high court later dissolved its stay and dismissed the inmates' claim that they were entitled to know the source of the drugs.

"By then, Gov. Mary Fallin had weighed into the matter by issuing a stay of execution of her own — a one-week delay in Lockett's execution that resulted in both men being scheduled to die on the same day."

Fallin supported the execution saying the men did not contest their guilt.

"Tonight, in a climate of secrecy and political posturing, Oklahoma intends to kill two death row prisoners using an experimental new drug protocol, including a paralytic, making it impossible to know whether the executions will comport with the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual suffering," Madeline Cohen, who represents Warner said in a statement. She continued:

"Because the issue of secrecy in lethal injection has not been substantively addressed by the courts, Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner will be executed without basic information about the experimental combination of drugs used in their deaths. Despite repeated requests by counsel, the state has refused, again, and again, to provide information about the source, purity, testing and efficacy of the drugs to be used. It's not even known whether the drugs were purchased legally. "

The New York Times adds:

(Major warning, details of awful crime here)

"At 6 p.m. Mr. Lockett, who was convicted of shooting a 19-year-old woman in 1999 and having her buried alive, is due to be led from a holding room, dressed in scrubs and tennis shoes. Several relatives of the victim are scheduled to watch his execution.

"Two hours later, Mr. Warner, condemned for the rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl in 1997, is to enter the execution chamber. The mother of his victim said she opposed the death penalty and would not attend, but five members of Warner's family are expected to be there."

[niemand88f]

OMG   His crime was horrific to be sure but this is pretty horrible.

[NewOrleans]

Apr 29, 2014 21:31:36 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

They should have led with the last two paragraphs so I could know right at the start that IDGAF.

Blech.  I did not eve see that!  Fuck this whole case start to finish.

[nsl]

Apr 29, 2014 21:31:36 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

They should have led with the last two paragraphs so I could know right at the start that IDGAF.

Yeah, I find it hard to get worked up about this particular case given his crime.  

[Deleted]

Rape and murder of and 11 month old girl? I hope it fucking hurts a thousand times over.

[pixy0stix]

The only sad thing about this is that the other fucker was spared for another time.

[redwino]

Holy shit! What's sad is that this will only be a blip on the local news. The leading story is sterling. Fucking Oklahoma.

Eta: to fix spelling. I can't get on board with the death penalty. They are both horrible people so lock them up and throw away the key.

[FloFTW]

Guillotine.

[gpw]

Wait. Am I reading something wrong? They had 2 executions scheduled in the same night? That seems....I don't know what words I want. I mean, are they that backed up killing folks that they have to do two a night?

[runaways]

The death penalty used to be something I was pretty ambivalent about, but I've come to be quite strongly against it for reasons related to this kind of thing and even more so the potential for wrongful conviction.

That said, this guy can rot.

[pixy0stix]

Apr 29, 2014 21:33:56 GMT -5 jillianashley6 said:

Omg

Things like this reinforce my belief that the death penalty should be abolished. They committed horrific crimes, but I am a firm believer that people who can commit crimes such as these must be mentally ill, and therefore I think we have a responsibility to not act in kind and kill them. Ugh.

mmmmmmm... No. This operates on the assumption that everyone is a good person, except for if their brain chemistry is fucked. There are truly awful people out there that have absolutely nothing wrong with them. This is what I firmly believe.

[sandsonik]

Apr 29, 2014 21:33:48 GMT -5 @hayworth said:

Rape and murder of and 11 month old girl? I hope it fucking hurts a thousand times over.

That was the one they didn't execute, after they failed in executing the first.

For Pete's sake, why wouldn't someone take a gun and shoot him in the head? I'm anti-death penalty, but it' s because I think murder is murder is murder so the state has no business engaging in it. I'm less concerned about "humane" execution, and I don't think a quick bullet or two to the brain is any more traumatic than a slower, drugged death.

[ttt]

Huge huge warning, but lest you be feeling even a sliver of sympathy, you should know that the description of his crime above was extremely tame:


m.newsok.com/man-found-guilty-of-baby-rape-murder/article/1934580




I'm sorry only that he wasn't the one to suffer for an hour before dying.

[pixy0stix]

Yeah, no. I'm not reading that. I'm all fired up just reading the last couple of sentences of the op.

[KateAggie]

So the guy that buried a young woman alive basically got to feel what she went through. Sounds like a successful execution to me.

[ttt]

Apr 29, 2014 23:06:12 GMT -5 toledo said:

I don't understand why the reaction to a botched state execution changes when you discover what crime he committed.

Or did you guys think that they execute people for check kiting?

I'm just not morally outraged when someone who has committed an unspeakable crime is forced to endure an hour of some possible suffering before being killed.

[ttt]

And FWIW yes there are some crimes that people are executed for that I don't believe rise to the standard of death penalty eligible crimes. Murder is always terrible but shooting someone during a robbery is not the same as raping and murdering an infant. Committing murder during a robbery could be a horrible, horrible mistake, a bad decision made at the wrong time. But I don't believe you can rape and murder an infant without having something fundamentally and irreversibly wrong with you. 

Some people have forfeited their right to live on this planet.

[Deleted]

I can't say I'm all that sorry but you know, the state has certain responsibilities, ffs. I can hate this dude, hate what he did, be glad his life is over and still be utterly sick at the massive incompetence it takes to give someone an experimental cocktail of ineffective drugs and let them take a fucking hour to succumb to them.

No and no.

And I'm ripshit pissed that companies with an anti death penalty stance are getting fucking cute about providing this meds. I don't see that as any different than all of the ways states go about subverting abortion rights because they can't get the practice itself outlawed.

The death penalty is legal in certain states. Refusing to provide the proper, tested combination of meds to make a point is only going to hurt those who are sent to die. I know I'm not supposed to care about them and on an individual level, I don't. But there's kind of a line here and it's similar to how I feel about inmates receiving proper medical care, mental illness therapy, proper food to eat, and something of a half way decent standard of care.

The state has resumed responsibility of these people. You can't just say fuck it, and let them live and die however.

[Deleted]

Plus, let's be frank here. Fucked up executions give the anti death penalty side fuel for their fire and not undeservedly. It's in the best interest of those who support the death penalty to see that these executions are carried out responsibility and dispassionately.

It's sort of like giving a shit that someone who is obviously guilty gets effective council during their trial. Sure we hope the piece of shit will rot in a prison cell for quite a while. But justice can't be done without a fair and proper process that holds up to later scrutiny.

[Deleted]

I actually believe the death penalty is far more humane than locking people up knowing you have no intentions of letting them out, they have no intentions of bettering themselves, and that they are sitting around ruminating and reliving their crimes for the own personal satisfaction.

The very idea of that sickens me.

Obviously that standard doesn't apply to everyone or even every killer. That's why I don't believe all or even most murderers should be on death row.

[Deleted]

Apr 29, 2014 23:40:40 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

oh, yeah. no religious qualms here either.

The death penalty is right in line with my religious beliefs actually.

[laurenpetro]

Apr 29, 2014 23:13:23 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

I can't say I'm all that sorry but you know, the state has certain responsibilities, ffs. I can hate this dude, hate what he did, be glad his life is over and still be utterly sick at the massive incompetence it takes to give someone an experimental cocktail of ineffective drugs and let them take a fucking hour to succumb to them.

No and no.

And I'm ripshit pissed that companies with an anti death penalty stance are getting fucking cute about providing this meds. I don't see that as any different than all of the ways states go about subverting abortion rights because they can't get the practice itself outlawed.

The death penalty is legal in certain states. Refusing to provide the proper, tested combination of meds to make a point is only going to hurt those who are sent to die. I know I'm not supposed to care about them and on an individual level, I don't. But there's kind of a line here and it's similar to how I feel about inmates receiving proper medical care, mental illness therapy, proper food to eat, and something of a half way decent standard of care.

The state has resumed responsibility of these people. You can't just say fuck it, and let them live and die however.

From what I remember the drugs are of European origin. The manufacturers weren't aware of what they were being used for and once they were they refused to sell to the states.

Don't shoot the messenger on this. Shoot the radio station that said it (probably NPR).

[laurenpetro]

As for this, I am sickened. We're against torture because we as a country are better than that, but this is okey-dokey?

Nope.

I'm not totally anti-DP but it's stories like this that move me further into that camp.

[Deleted]

Apr 29, 2014 23:48:27 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

From what I remember the drugs are of European origin. The manufacturers weren't aware of what they were being used for and once they were they refused to sell to the states.

Don't shoot the messenger on this. Shoot the radio station that said it (probably NPR).

LOL I won't because the concept still stands. These manufacturers decided to refuse to sell them in the hopes we'd what? Stop executing people? Yeah, that worked.

You know the other probably I have with refusing to care about the issue as a whole? People don't care about Shanesha Taylor either and the larger issue surrounding the inability to find daycare at all, nevermind quality daycare. Getting caught up in the individual details of an individual case leads to an overall issue with getting this shit resolved. This person is an asshole, therefore I don't care about the problem we have in this country with people getting in this situation in the first place.

It's problematic to say the least.

[laurenpetro]

Apr 29, 2014 23:55:20 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Apr 29, 2014 23:48:27 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

From what I remember the drugs are of European origin. The manufacturers weren't aware of what they were being used for and once they were they refused to sell to the states.

Don't shoot the messenger on this. Shoot the radio station that said it (probably NPR).

LOL I won't because the concept still stands. These manufacturers decided to refuse to sell them in the hopes we'd what? Stop executing people? Yeah, that worked.

You know the other probably I have with refusing to care about the issue as a whole? People don't care about Shanesha Taylor either and the larger issue surrounding the inability to find daycare at all, nevermind quality daycare. Getting caught up in the individual details of an individual case leads to an overall issue with getting this shit resolved. This person is an asshole, therefore I don't care about the problem we have in this country with people getting in this situation in the first place.

It's problematic to say the least.

Well.... Again IIRC (cuz I'm tired and making 400 fucking flowers) none of the companies wanted to be associated with a form of punishment that isn't legal in their countries. Between that and no longer profiting from it, they did what they set out to do.

And I thought this guy killed the 19 year old?

[Knight]

I don't like the death penalty. I think we use it too much but in cases such as these I don't mind it.

[sushi]

Apr 29, 2014 23:43:17 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Apr 29, 2014 23:40:40 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

oh, yeah. no religious qualms here either.

The death penalty is right in line with my religious beliefs actually.

Interesting. Other people I've known of your faith background are anti dp arguing it removes more time for the person to come to accept Jesus and be forgiven.

I really think it's something that's personal to everyone. They come to their anti or pro stance but often use the same sources to come to their opposite conclusions.

[Jermys]

Mother of god, there is no death too horrific for the baby raper. Fuck, I wish I hadn't read that article.

[Deleted]

Apr 30, 2014 1:03:27 GMT -5 sushi said:

Interesting. Other people I've known of your faith background are anti dp arguing it removes more time for the person to come to accept Jesus and be forgiven.

Eh. The thief on the cross came to faith while hanging out on the cross. Plus, I think the Bible gives plenty of groundwork for the idea of needing rules and laws to maintain a just society.

[summer]

Apr 29, 2014 23:35:26 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

Apr 29, 2014 23:32:25 GMT -5 Stan said:

Those of us who are against the death penalty, to include this victim's mother, are not swayed by this. I will never be okay killing someone who is strapped down and not currently an active danger to society. I've been trained to kill people, which I accept is necessary, but I'm not about to purposefully kill someone who is unarmed and not an active threat.

im as liberal as they come and i have no qualms whatsoever about the death penalty - in a perfect world with infallible evidence, police and legal procedures, complete neutrality by judges and juries and ironclad eyewitness accounts and medical evidence.

that said - no im not crying for either one of them.   

This is me. If you are irrefutably caught raping/killing/torturing babies and children, you don't get a second chance. I'm sorry but that's how I feel. There is something fundamemtally wrong with you.