Stefanie Faucher
Associated Press - Oklahoma official: State has drugs for 4 executions scheduled, believes process to be 'humane'
Reuters - Oklahoma says it plans to keep using injection mix from botched Clayton Lockett execution
Tulsa World - DOC director says state will use same execution drugs
The Oklahoman - Oklahoma plans to use same drugs for upcoming executions
KFOR (OK) - Judge prepares to make decision in stopping Oklahoma executions
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Oklahoma official: State has drugs for 4 executions scheduled, believes process to be 'humane'
December 19, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has procured the drugs it needs to execute four inmates early next year and plans to administer the same three it used in a botched execution this spring, just with an increased dose, the state's prison director told a federal judge on Friday.
Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton said the agency plans to administer the drugs in a combination used successfully in 11 executions in Florida, one that he believes is "humane."
"The three-drug protocol is the exact same as in Florida that has been determined to be constitutional," Patton said.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot plans to rule Monday in a case in which lawyers for 21 death row inmates say using the sedative midazolam presents a risk of cruel and unusual punishment because an inmate could be consciously aware of suffocating when the second drug, a paralytic, is administered and then experience burning pain as the third drug is given to stop the heart.
Those three drugs were used during the April 29 execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney, mumbled and tried to lift up before a problem was discovered with an intravenous line. The state plans to increase by five times the amount of midazolam it uses in future executions.
Patton acknowledged midazolam is not the preferred first drug, but said state officials have been unable to secure more effective alternatives that have been used in the past, such as sodium thiopental or pentobarbital.
A doctor of pharmacy who testified for the state, Roswell Lee Evans, Jr., said he's confident the 500-milligram dose of midazolam Oklahoma plans to use is enough so that a person "quickly reaches an unconscious state and does not react to painful stimuli." He said the midazolam alone is likely to cause death.
But other experts have testified that midazolam is an entirely inappropriate drug to use for an execution because a person could be aware and able to feel pain as the second and third drugs were administered.
Under cross-examination, Evans said there have reported cases in which midazolam had a paradoxical effect in which a person becomes agitated and combative instead of sedated.
A state investigation into Lockett's lethal injection blamed a faulty intravenous line that wasn't continuously monitored by the execution team, and the lethal drugs were injected directly into his tissue instead of his blood.
Dr. Eric Katz, an emergency physician who says he's overseen the insertion of thousands of IV lines, said the needle used in Lockett's execution wasn't the proper size for a femoral vein.
"This is a pretty horrendous error in judgment," Katz said.
Because of state confidentiality laws, Patton couldn't testify about whether the same doctor would be used for future executions, but he said he has assembled an execution team that includes a paramedic and a physician who will serve as the leader of the IV team.
The state maintains a renovated death chamber and newly purchased medical equipment, better training for the execution team and new protocols will prevent a similar mishap from happening in the future. The state's next execution is scheduled for Jan. 15.
Lockett was convicted of shooting Stephanie Nieman, 19, with a sawed-off shotgun and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in 1999.
In a separate case prompted by Lockett's execution, a federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by media organizations that sought greater access to executions in the state. U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton rejected the organizations' allegations that Oklahoma's execution protocols violate the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed in August by The Oklahoma Observer and the Guardian US.
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Oklahoma says it plans to keep using injection mix from botched Clayton Lockett execution
19 DEC 2014
Oklahoma plans to use the same lethal injection drug combination it employed during a botched execution in April, Department of Corrections officials told a federal court hearing arguments on whether to halt death sentences in the state from being carried out.
Lawyers for 21 death row inmates in Oklahoma, four of whom are scheduled to die next year, have asked the court to suspend future executions following the lethal injection of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett.
DOC Director Robert Patton testified that the sedative midazolam would be used in the upcoming executions, adding that Oklahoma chose the same drug protocol as Florida, which has won approval to use its combination from a court in that state.
In testimony for the plaintiffs this week, David Lubarsky, an anesthesiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said midazolam cannot achieve the levels of unconsciousness needed for surgical procedures, and is therefore problematic for executions.
Lockett appeared to be conscious for longer than expected and probably was in pain when the final drugs in the injection, which were supposed to end his life, were administered, medical experts testified earlier.
The bungled execution led to criticism from the United Nations and a call from President Barack Obama to re-examine how capital punishment is implemented in the country.
Prison officials have continually said their lethal injection combinations are humane and appropriate.
During Lockett’s execution, a doctor and paramedic attempted “up to 15 times” to place an IV line, finally landing one in his groin area, a state report said. That line was improperly placed and eventually fell out, spewing lethal injection chemicals and blood in the death chamber.
Lockett died about 40 minutes after the procedure started from chemicals that had accumulated in his tissues, the report said.
Oklahoma prison officials said previously they used a new chemical combination with Lockett. After the execution, they drew up new protocols they said would remedy problems.
Several states, including Oklahoma have struggled to obtain drugs for executions after many pharmaceutical companies, mostly in Europe, imposed sales bans because they object to having medications made for other purposes used in lethal injections.
(Reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz. Editing by Andre Grenon)
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DOC director says state will use same execution drugs
Lethal combo used in April only one available, DOC chief says.
By ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Enterprise Editor & CARY ASPINWALL, December 20, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY — Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton testified Friday the state will use the same lethal drug combination used during an April execution but would not say whether the same doctor and paramedic will carry out four upcoming executions.
Patton said the state has chosen to use the three-drug combo used in an April 29 execution of inmate Clayton Lockett because it could not obtain alternate drugs.
“Those are the drugs that we procured,” Patton said.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot said he will rule Monday afternoon on whether the state of Oklahoma will have to delay its scheduled executions, based on a lawsuit by several death-row inmates. The inmates’ suit claims that Lockett’s execution was unconstitutional and that any future executions using midazolam present an unconstitutionally acceptable risk of pain and suffering.
Lockett died 43 minutes after his execution had begun and was technically halted, with the governor preparing to issue a stay because the IV that was supposed to deliver the lethal drugs was failing. Witnesses reported seeing him move, speak and lift his head after he was supposed to be unconscious from midazolam.
But his botched execution was more than an IV failure, argued Randy Bauman, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys: “It was a demonstration of the profound limits and unsuitability of midazolam.”
Attorneys for the death-row inmates argued that the drug is not a reliable anesthetic for executions because it has no pain-relieving properties and can have adverse effects in certain people.
Attorneys for the state argued that midazolam is the best option because they cannot obtain the drugs previously used to sedate inmates in executions, and that Florida has carried out 11 executions using midazolam without problems.
The Department of Corrections is “confident” that steps have been taken to address the failures in Lockett’s death and is ready to move forward with future executions, argued Assistant Attorney General John Hadden.
If Friot grants the plaintiffs’ request, upcoming executions would be stayed during a full trial on the inmates’ claims. He could also rule that while Lockett’s execution may have violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, the state has improved its policies and practices enough to carry out future executions.
Patton’s testimony came Friday, on the final day of a three-day hearing. Dale Baich, an attorney for the plaintiffs, asked Patton if the same doctor and paramedic who carried out Lockett’s execution would be involved in future Oklahoma executions.
Attorneys for the state objected to the question because a state law forbids the release of identities of doctors, paramedics, pharmacists and others who take part in Oklahoma’s executions. Friot sustained their objection, and Patton did not answer the question.
A medical expert testified Friday for the plaintiffs that the doctor in Lockett’s execution made “a pretty horrendous error in judgment” when he used a small needle to insert an IV line in the inmate’s femoral vein.
A state investigation concluded that IV errors were the largest factor in problems that occurred during the execution.
The expert, emergency room physician Eric Katz, said he reviewed records and investigative reports in the case and concluded: “It was extremely predictable this equipment was going to fail.”
After multiple attempts to insert an IV in other locations, the doctor inserted an IV in Lockett’s femoral vein, in his groin area. Katz said the catheter used for the IV “would never, ever be used in this way” in a medical setting.
He said records showed the doctor had access to a “central line kit” that contained properly sized equipment to start the IV.
The doctor “chose not to pause and wait for the right equipment,” Katz said.
Portions of state investigators’ interviews with the paramedic and doctor were shown in court Friday. Both the paramedic and doctor made statements that “may sound good to the lay person but make no medical sense at all,” Katz testified.
In one excerpt, the paramedic was apparently trying to explain why some executions may take longer than expected.
“Most of the men on the execution table have a very strong heart,” he states in the transcript.
“They are in very good shape. They’re very muscular. They have nothing to do besides exercise and eat well … It takes awhile for that heart to realize that it doesn’t have to beat anymore.”
The paramedic, who has participated in most of Oklahoma’s executions, also told investigators that “black people have smaller veins than white people,” Katz said.
He said the paramedics statements about inmates’ hearts and veins had no medical basis.
The transcripts of the state’s investigative interviews are among 3,000 pages of records that the state has designated confidential and refused to release.
The Tulsa World has requested the transcripts under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The Department of Public Safety has not complied with the request or cited a law allowing the state to withhold the documents.
After closing arguments Friday, Friot urged the state’s attorneys to respond quickly to requests for records related to the court case.
“I think there is a presumption of public access to records in proceedings like this,” he said.
As a result of problems with Lockett’s execution and recommendations from the state’s official investigation, Oklahoma revised its execution protocol several months ago.
The new drug protocol is based on the state of Florida’s protocol, which calls for five times the amount of midazolam used in Lockett’s execution. It also contains numerous requirements intended to improve the process, including upgrades to medical equipment and training.
Patton testified that he has been told by the state Attorney General’s Office that midazolam can be used to carry out executions in a constitutional manner.
Two experts have testified for the plaintiffs that the drug is a sedative not approved for use as an anesthetic. It has also been used in problematic executions in Ohio and Arizona.
Katz testified Friday that if a person was given midazolam and the drug didn’t render him unconscious, the second drug given in Oklahoma’s lethal injection would paralyze him and make it difficult to know if he was in pain. The person could be conscious, in pain, unable to move or speak while slowly suffocating, he said.
Administration of the final lethal drug, potassium chloride, to someone who was conscious, would cause pain, agreed several medical experts who testified Friday.
Patton testified that he did not directly consult with the state’s medical expert, Dr. Lee Evans, regarding effectiveness of midazolam to render the inmates unconscious.
He said Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office consulted with Evans about the drug. Evans testified in a Florida legal challenge that resulted in a ruling upholding that state’s lethal injection protocol.
“So the Attorney General’s Office is between you and the expert?” Baich asked Patton.
“That is a fair statement yes,” he replied. ”I have not had conversations with Mr. Evans.”
Testimony throughout the three-day hearing has indicated that attorneys have made many key decisions in development of the state’s protocol and reaction to Lockett’s botched execution.
Evans testified Friday that midazolam could be used to render someone unconscious. He said an inmate would remain unconscious with a dose of 500 milligrams, which is what the state intends to use now.
When questioned by Robin Konrad, an attorney for the plaintiffs, he admitted his report for the state contained some errors regarding toxic dosage amounts of midazolam, and that he used Drugs.com as a reference site. Evans is the dean of the school of pharmacy at Auburn University.
He testified that he believed Lockett had been rendered unconscious at some point during the execution, maybe about 40 minutes after midazolam was given.
Whether Lockett was conscious as the painful second and third drugs were given is a key question in the inmates’ legal challenge.
Joni McClain, the former Texas medical examiner who conducted Lockett’s autopsy for the official investigation, testified that she had no opinion on whether he had experienced any pain and suffering.
“You can’t tell that from an autopsy,” she said.
Konrad asked if there were certain cases where she might be able to infer that a dead person had suffered.
“If you’re raped and buried alive, that would be pain and suffering,” McClain retorted.
Lockett was sentenced to die for his role in the 1999 murder of 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman. She was shot and left to die in a ditch by Lockett and two accomplices who also raped and assaulted two of her friends.
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http://newsok.com/oklahoma-plans-to-use-same-drugs-for-upcoming-executions/article/5377745
Oklahoma plans to use same drugs for upcoming executions
by Graham Lee Brewer, December 19, 2014
The state has the drugs necessary to perform four upcoming executions and plans to use the same three-drug cocktail it used in a controversial April lethal injection, the Oklahoma prisons director said Friday in federal court.
Director Robert Patton testified before a federal judge that the state has acquired midazolam, the first drug used in April to execute convicted murderer Clayton Derrell Lockett, and a physician has been chosen for the next execution. Patton did not confirm whether the physician is the same doctor who attended to Lockett during his execution.
“According to the medical expert that will testify today, I am satisfied,” Patton said, referring to the state’s drug expert, who also testified Friday.
Patton said the same method has been found constitutional in Florida, where 11 executions have been carried out using the same 500-milligram dosage of midazolam Oklahoma plans to use. Lockett was killed using 100 milligrams of the drug.
Patton’s testimony before U.S. Judge Stephen Friot was part of the final day of hearings in a case where 21 death row inmates are seeking to stop the state from using the method and drugs it did on Lockett. Lockett writhed, grimaced and mumbled after being declared unconscious and died 43 minutes into the procedure.
Friot said he plans to rule Monday afternoon on whether the state’s method of execution is constitutional. If he decides to bar the state from using midazolam, it will lead to a case on the merits of Oklahoma’s execution procedure, effectively postponing executions set to resume in January.
The state also will have an opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Friot also could rule Lockett’s execution was unconstitutional.
The state has made several changes to protocol in the wake of Lockett’s execution, including upgrading the death chamber, execution equipment, and staff training. A state Public Safety Department investigation into the execution found improper training and equipment led to the failure of a central IV in Lockett’s femoral vein, causing the lethal drugs to leak into his muscle tissue.
Dr. Eric Katz, a medical expert for the plaintiffs, testified the catheter placed in Lockett’s groin to deliver the drugs would have been seen as ill-conceived by properly trained medical staff.
“It was extremely predictable that this line was going to fail,” Katz said.
Katz said records show a “central line kit” was available, but the doctor never used it, instead opting for a needle that was too short.
“This is a catheter that was not designed for central use,” Katz said. “That is evident to anyone who has ever placed a catheter.”
Katz said he also was confused by statements made by the attending paramedic, who gave an interview with state agents as part of the state’s investigation. Katz said much of the paramedic’s statements made little to no medical sense, including a comment that black patients have smaller veins than white patients.
“They are very muscular and they have a very strong heart and it takes a while for that heart to realize that it doesn’t have to beat anymore,” the paramedic told agents in his interview, according to redacted documents shown Friday in court.
Katz said that statement has no medical basis.
Lee Evans, a psychiatric pharmacist who testified Friday on behalf of the state, disputed testimony made earlier in the week by experts for the plaintiffs that midazolam reaches a dosage limit where it no longer increases its effect. Evans said 500 milligrams of the drug should effectively keep an inmate sedated throughout an execution.
Evans said the drug would have stopped the respiratory system in the brain, and Lockett’s movement while he was supposed to be unconscious did not indicate he felt pain.
“When you begin to shut off the oxygen supply, you’re going to get some very involuntary movements because the body is going to adjust,” Evans said.
Evans also testified that some of his research on the drug was done through the website drugs.com. A former state Corrections Department attorney testified Thursday he used the same website to research the drug before Lockett’s execution.
In their closing arguments, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued Lockett’s execution was evidence that the use of midazolam increases the likelihood of a lingering death, which is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
“Lockett was more than an IV failure,” federal public defender Randy Bauman said. “It demonstrated the profound limits of the unsuitability of midazolam.”
Assistant Attorney General John Hadden closed by noting the state would prefer to use a barbiturate such as pentobarbital for future executions, however, that drug is unavailable. Hadden said midazolam may not be the state’s first choice, but it is an acceptable alternative.
“We know it is effective,” Hadden said. “It’s not as good as some drugs, but that doesn’t mean it’s unconstitutional.”
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http://kfor.com/2014/12/19/judge-prepares-to-make-decision-in-stopping-oklahoma-executions/
Judge prepares to make decision in stopping Oklahoma executions
BY LESLIE RANGEL, December 19, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY – Testimony wrapping up today inside a federal courtroom as a judge prepares to make a decision in stopping Oklahoma executions.
Today, the court mainly heard about what went wrong in the execution chamber.
One paramedic told investigators, “Black people have smaller veins than white people.”
The paramedic was saying that’s one reason why they failed to find Clayton Lockett‘s veins eight times inside the execution chamber.
The plaintiff’s witness, an expert emergency room doctor says it’s untrue.
“In a situation like this where medical personnel are actively trying to put somebody to death, you need accuracy, you need precision and in this particular case it doesn’t seem like it’s there,” Ed Blau, a legal expert told us.
In an interview with investigators, the paramedic also said inmates, “are very muscular and they have a very strong heart and it takes a while for that heart to realize that it doesn’t have to beat anymore.”
The plaintiffs doctor says that’s not how medicine works, saying there’s a lack of medical experience.
“There’s not a long list of people wanting to go in and actually execute somebody. This is probably a situation where the physician involved and the medical personnel were all they could find,” Blau said.
The state tried to explain there was sufficient training to find the veins.
The defense focused more on Lockett’s autopsy, repeating findings that he was “judicially executed by lethal injection.”
They say no one except Lockett can prove he was in severe pain at the time of the execution.
“Anybody that’s willing to put a hood over their head and get paid $300 to kill somebody that’s generally not somebody at the top of their profession and in this case I believe it shows that very clearly,” Blau said.
The judge says he will make a decision on Oklahoma executions by Monday afternoon.
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