Stefanie Faucher
Muskogee Phoenix - Executions must be transparent
New York Times - Doctors Say Flaws Led to Suffering in Oklahoma Execution
Associated Press - Oklahoma Inmates Claim Lethal Injection Unconstitutional
Associated Press - Doctor says Oklahoma inmate suffered in execution
Reuters - Pathologist tells U.S. court that Oklahoma had deeply flawed execution
Tulsa World - Doctor says Oklahoma inmate suffered in execution
The Oklahoman - Doctor says inmate suffered during execution
The Guardian - Federal judge to decide if Oklahoma can resume executions
Al Jazeera - Judge hears of 'bloody mess' execution as Okla. seeks to lift moratorium
KFOR-TV (OK) - Oklahoma death row inmates ask judge to halt punishment after botched execution
KRMG - Death row inmates may have painful death
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EDITORIALLY SPEAKING — Executions must be transparent
December 17, 2014
Governments that execute its citizens in the name of its citizens need to have the process be as transparent as possible.
The state of Oklahoma imposes the death penalty far too often for any part of the process to be in complete secrecy.
One of the media’s most disturbing, but crucial, responsibilities is bearing witness to the execution of state inmates.
Oklahoma briefly suspended executions because of a the way the April 29 execution of Clayton Lockett was performed.
A problem with an IV line caused Lockett to struggle while on the gurney during the lethal injection.
The prison’s warden ordered the blinds lowered after it appeared Lockett’s execution did not go as planned.
Two newspapers have sued to ensure their First Amendment rights to witness executions.
The papers argued before a federal judge that the media should be able to witness the entirety of all executions.
We agree.
Government should not be able to execute citizens without a watchdog such as the legitimate media.
It is not some kind of gruesome morbid curiosity that the media seeks to feed for itself or the public.
The media’s role is to ensure that government does not abuse its responsibility under the justice system.
The Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment.
The media must be present to accurately record the execution to help ensure the Constitution is being upheld.
The bottom line: Government should not execute citizens behind the blinds of secrecy.
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Doctors Say Flaws Led to Suffering in Oklahoma Execution
By Carol Cole-Frowe, December 17, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY — Clayton D. Lockett, whose botched execution in April led to a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma, was most likely conscious, in intense pain and feeling the equivalent of “liquid fire” from the inappropriate use of drugs used to kill him, a Florida anesthesiologist testified here on Wednesday.
At a hearing in federal court on whether Oklahoma should resume executions on Jan. 15, the anesthesiologist, Dr. David Lubarsky of the University of Miami, was highly critical of the three-drug cocktail used by Oklahoma officials in the execution. One reason, he said, is that their administering of a much higher dose of the first drug, midazolam, does not increase its effectiveness.
The prolonged death of Mr. Lockett, who was described by some witnesses as seeming to regain consciousness, mumbling and writhing in pain on the execution table, revived debate about the reliability of lethal injection and about the drug combinations that states have tried as alternatives when the traditional barbiturates became scarce.
“People who are asleep don’t make an attempt to speak,” Dr. Lubarsky testified about Mr. Lockett’s behavior. “It is considered unethical to try this on human beings who cannot consent.”
Midazolam is often the first drug that anesthesiologists give to surgical patients because it reduces their anxiety. Dr. Lubarsky said that it hits a “ceiling,” relaxing patients but not keeping them far enough under to perform surgery or administer drugs like the second and third ones used in Mr. Lockett’s execution.
Oklahoma maintains that the problematic execution of Mr. Lockett, who was convicted of shooting a 19-year-old woman in 1999 and burying her alive, was an anomaly caused by an improperly set intravenous line.
Several of Oklahoma’s death row inmates and their families are suing the state in federal court, seeking an injunction to postpone their executions until the drug protocol can be revised.
Judge Stephen Friot opened the three-day hearing on Wednesday. Oklahoma has four executions scheduled from Jan. 15 to March 5, including that of Charles Warner, whose execution was supposed to immediately follow Mr. Lockett’s.
Also testifying Wednesday was Dr. Joseph Cohen, a pathologist hired by Mr. Lockett’s lawyer, who said there were at least 15 puncture wounds in the unsuccessful attempts to insert an intravenous line into the prisoner.
Dr. Cohen questioned the competence of the physician who oversaw the execution.
Anita Trammell, the warden for the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, who was inside the death chamber during Mr. Lockett’s execution, admitted in court that training that occurred as late as the day of the execution was not adequate.
She attributed problems inserting the intravenous line to Mr. Lockett’s being dehydrated and having been a former IV-drug user. She told the court that it had taken 50 minutes to get one line in place in a femoral artery and that there were usually two lines. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said multiple autopsies had not shown Mr. Lockett was dehydrated.
A version of this article appears in print on December 18, 2014, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Doctors Say Flaws Led to Suffering in Execution. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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Oklahoma Inmates Claim Lethal Injection Unconstitutional
December 18, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Lawyers for 21 death row inmates say Oklahoma's bungled execution in April is evidence they likely will experience pain and suffering from the state's lethal injection protocol.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Thursday in a federal court in Oklahoma City where the inmates are challenging the state's method of execution. Much of the case centers on the use of the sedative midazolam as the first in a three-drug combination.
The combination was used for the first time in Oklahoma during the April 29 execution of Clayton Lockett. He writhed on the gurney, mumbled and lifted his head before dying after the execution was halted.
Attorneys for the state say new execution protocols and staff training will prevent similar problems from happening again.
Oklahoma's next execution is set for Jan. 15.
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Doctor says Oklahoma inmate suffered in execution
By Sean Murphy, December 17, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A doctor who examined the body of an Oklahoma inmate who died during a botched execution told a federal judge Wednesday that he is convinced the man suffered after being declared unconscious.
Dr. Joseph Cohen, a pathologist hired by the inmate’s lawyer, said that recently released witness statements corroborate his belief that Clayton Lockett was conscious when given drugs to stop his heart and breathing. Several witnesses, including an Associated Press reporter, saw the inmate struggle against his restraints, mumble and try to raise his head.
“Mr. Lockett had been deemed unconscious but became conscious again,” Cohen testified at a hearing on whether Oklahoma should resume executions Jan. 15 after a self-imposed moratorium. Death row inmates say they fear the state is conducting human experiments on them by using newly approved drug combinations during executions.
The state maintains that Lockett’s problematic execution was an anomaly caused by an improperly set intravenous line and not the result of using the sedative midazolam as the first in a three-drug combination.
Assistant Attorney General John Hadden said Oklahoma and other states have been forced to look for other drug alternatives after more commonly used short-acting barbiturates became scarce because of manufacturers’ opposition to the death penalty.
Oklahoma was the first state ever to use 100 milligrams of midazolam as part of a three-drug protocol during Lockett’s execution. Florida has used 500 milligrams, the level Oklahoma’s new protocol calls for using.
But a Florida anesthesiologist, Dr. David Lubarsky, testified that midazolam has a ceiling effect, and that increasing the dose does not increase the effect. He also said it’s used mostly to calm a patient before a surgery, and not as an anesthetic that produces unconsciousness.
“It’s simply not strong enough to reduce all electrical activity in the brain,” Lubarsky said.
Based on his belief that Lockett was conscious when the second and third drugs were administered, Lubarsky said it’s likely Lockett felt a progressive suffocation and then an intense pain once the potassium chloride was injected.
“It’s been described as liquid fire,” Lubarsky said.
Hadden noted that Lubarsky also testified in a Florida case challenging the use of midazolam, in which a judge determined that state’s protocol was constitutional.
Karen Cunningham, a victim services coordinator for the state attorney general’s office who has witnessed about a dozen executions, said that although Lockett mumbled and moved, it didn’t appear as though he was struggling.
“He didn’t seem uncomfortable. It didn’t seem like suffering,” Cunningham told Department of Public Safety investigators in a statement she reaffirmed Wednesday. She added, however, “he did raise up more than what I had ever seen.” Cunningham does not have medical training.
Cohen was hired by Lockett’s lawyer to perform an autopsy after the body was returned to Oklahoma from Dallas, where doctors performed an exam on the state’s behalf. Lockett’s lawyer, David Autry, said it was apparent to him that Lockett became conscious.
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Pathologist tells U.S. court that Oklahoma had deeply flawed execution
By Heide Brandes, December 17, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma's death chamber was "a disorganized mess" during a troubled execution in April, a pathologist who performed an autopsy on the executed inmate told a federal court that is hearing arguments on whether to halt executions in the state.
Lawyers for 21 death row Oklahoma inmates, four of whom are scheduled to be executed next year, have asked the court to halt future executions there after the flawed lethal injection of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett in April led to national and global criticism.
Joseph Cohen, a forensic pathologist who performed the independent autopsy on Lockett, said medical staff failed about 15 times to place an IV line in the inmate, even though his veins were in excellent shape.
"I can't fathom that it would be so difficult to place a catheter line," he told the court on Wednesday. "It really sounds like it was a disorganized mess."
A doctor and paramedic who failed repeatedly to place an IV in Lockett finally landed a line in his groin area, said a report by the state released earlier this year. But that line was improperly placed and eventually fell out, spewing lethal injection chemicals and blood in the death chamber.
David Autry, an attorney for Lockett who witnessed the execution, said the sedative that was supposed to render him unconscious did not work properly and Lockett raised his head several minutes after the injection and said "something's wrong."
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, while many pharmaceutical companies, mostly in Europe, have imposed sales bans because they object to having medications made for other purposes used in lethal injections.
The states have looked to alter the chemicals used for lethal injection and to keep the suppliers' identities secret. They have also turned to lightly regulated compounding pharmacies that can mix chemicals.
Attorneys for death row inmates have argued that the drugs used in Oklahoma and other states could cause an unnecessarily painful death, which would amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Warden testifies she had no role in drafting execution protocol
By CURTIS KILLMAN, December 17, 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY — A prison warden who was supposed to be solely in charge of Oklahoma’s execution protocol testified Wednesday she had no role in drafting the protocol used to carry out a botched execution.
Despite DOC policies stating the warden had sole discretion over execution protocols, Anita Trammell testified she did not draft them. Trammell testified that a former Department of Corrections general counsel Mike Oakley provided her an affidavit to sign about the protocol.
Trammell’s testimony came during the first day of what is expected to be a three-day hearing in Oklahoma’s Western District of federal court. A legal challenge by 21 death-row inmates claims the state’s execution process is unconstitutional and asks U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot to issue a preliminary injunction halting upcoming executions.
If Friot grants a preliminary injunction following the hearing, a full trial would be scheduled to determine whether the state’s death penalty process is constitutional.
Four executions are currently scheduled: Charles Warner, Jan. 15; Richard Glossip, Jan. 29; John Marion Grant, Feb. 19; and Benjamin Cole, March 5.
Records show in her affidavit signed April 29, the day of Clayton Lockett’s 43-minute execution, Trammell attested that she had followed DOC’s policies and was “in charge” of executions.
The affidavit was included in a news release by Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office two hours before the execution.
Trammell is quoted in court filings as telling state investigators later: “I just signed the damn thing.”
Trammell said she would not have signed the affidavit had she known it was going to be released to the press as it was, but she denied being pressured to sign it at the time.
She said when she signed the affidavit she believed staff and been adequately trained to carry out the execution.
She realized after the fact that the training only covered events leading up to the execution.
The new execution protocol provides for training that has eliminated any room for uncertainty that she had in her mind, Trammell said.
In her testimony Wednesday, she noted the new protocol included the sedative midazolam, which was supposed to render the inmate unconscious. Trammel said she assumed, based on a conversation with DOC Director Robert Patton, that he was familiar with the drug, which was said to work slower than pentobarbitol, an anesthetic the state previously used.
Patton was hired from the state of Arizona’s prison system a few months before Lockett’s execution. Arizona carried out its first execution using midazolam in July, well after Patton left.
Trammell said she trained with staff about what to do if Lockett was not unconscious after five minutes. Those carrying out the execution were to wait two minutes and then recheck to see if he was unconscious.
David Autry, Lockett’s attorney, recounted his experience on the day of the execution.
Autry said there was a 23-minute delay before the execution chamber’s blinds were raised to start the execution.
Autry said the doctor in the execution chamber checked twice to see whether Lockett was unconscious.
The first time the doctor checked was about seven minutes after the execution began, Autry said. The doctor responded that Lockett was not unconscious, a determination echoed by Lockett himself, who said, “I’m not,” Autry said.
About three minutes later, Autry said, the doctor again checked Lockett and determined he was unconscious.
But about three minutes later, Autry said, Lockett began to strain against the restraints on the gurney, while raising his head and shoulders and muttering “man” or “oh, man,” and perhaps “something’s wrong.”
“It was evident to me that this was a botched execution, period,” Autry said.
Dr. Joseph I. Cohen, a forensic pathologist, testified via live video feed. Cohen conducted an autopsy of Lockett on behalf of the plaintiffs in addition to an autopsy done by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Cohen said Lockett “likely suffered conscious pain and suffering” during the execution.
“There should not be any voluntary movement,” Cohen said, in describing an unconscious person.
Lockett’s body was punctured 14 to 16 times during the execution, he said. Cohen testified that Lockett’s veins were in excellent condition despite having a history of IV drug abuse.
A state investigation concluded that failures in placing Lockett’s IV were primarily to blame for the situation that night. However, the report downplays and omits many key details by witnesses that are included in a filing last week by the plaintiffs.
The DPS investigative report, labeled “executive summary,” does not include transcripts of the witness statements. Attorneys for the state have designated them confidential and have not complied with a request by the Tulsa World in September for copies under the Open Records Act.
Names of execution team members and apparently other personnel involved have been redacted from the transcripts.
Cohen testified that there was no extensive evidence that any therapeutic intervention had been performed in an attempt to save Lockett’s life after officials ordered it halted. Lockett died before Gov. Mary Fallin issued a stay.
Cohen faulted the lack of training and supplies that were on hand during the execution but noted there were some supplies that could have been useful had they been utilized.
“It really just sounds like it was a disorganized mess,” Cohen said.
Several witnesses to the execution were called to testify during the hearing Wednesday.
Before the hearing began, Assistant Attorney General John Hadden told the judge he was invoking a rule requiring all witnesses to leave the courtroom unless they are testifying. Tulsa World reporter Ziva Branstetter and OETA reporter Lis Exon — both among witnesses to the execution — were then excluded from the courtroom.
DOC victim’s advocate Edith Shoals testified that she watched the execution on closed-circuit television with about three others in a nearby room.
Shoals, who launched the Families of Murdered Children organization in Tulsa, said the Lockett execution was nothing like any of the 15 to 20 executions that she had witnessed before.
Shoals said Lockett appeared to wake up after the execution had commenced.
Oklahoma State Prison unit secretary Jeanetta Boyd testified that she witnessed the execution with Shoals.
“The only thing I heard him say was ‘the drugs aren’t working’ … that’s what he said,” Boyd testified.
During the hearing this week, the plaintiffs and defendants will present expert testimony on the effectiveness of a new drug used in Lockett’s execution.
Dr. David Lubarsky, an anesthesiologist based in Miami, Florida, testified Wednesday that midazolam is not approved by the FDA as a sole drug to achieve a surgical plane of anesthesia. It does not block the pain and can in some cases amplify it, Lubarsky testified.
He said it wouldn’t matter if you used a “truckload” of the drug to anesthetize someone due to how it works on the body.
Lockett would have suffocated due to a slow onset of paralysis, Lubarsky testified, and it would be “nothing short of agonizing.”
“Potassium chloride produces excruciating burning. It’s been described as liquid fire.”
On cross-examination, Lubarsky conceded that he has testified in Forida death-penalty cases where the courts have upheld the use of midazolam in executions.
Lubarsky said the state has had problems with executions since he has testified on the issue there.
Attorneys for the state say midazolam has been used “without serious incident” in several Florida executions.
According to court filings, Oklahoma officials have obtained enough midazolam to carry out the four upcoming executions.
World Projects Editor Ziva Branstetter contributed to this story.
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http://newsok.com/article/5376949
Doctor says inmate suffered during execution
by Graham Lee Brewer, December 17, 2014
An inmate executed during a bungled April lethal injection suffered through intense pain, a doctor who autopsied the inmate’s body told a federal judge Wednesday.
Dr. Joseph Cohen, a forensic pathologist hired earlier this year by the inmate’s lawyer to autopsy the body of Clayton Derrell Lockett, told U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot that after reviewing transcripts of interviews with witnesses to the execution he believes Lockett felt considerable pain.
Cohen said Lockett awoke moments after being declared unconscious by the doctor attending the lethal injection, and he would have been unable to vocalize his pain due to the first drug administered, midazolam.
Lockett’s April 29 execution made international news after the convicted murderer writhed, grimaced, and spoke while he was supposed to be unconscious, and state Corrections Department officials closed the blinds on the procedure. An autopsy performed as part of a state investigation into what went wrong found an improperly placed IV to be the central problem that caused the execution to go off track.
Cohen also questioned the experience and capability of the doctor who attended to Lockett during the execution, noting that the intravenous catheter used to administer the lethal drugs should not have been so hard to place and there was a glaring lack of equipment available to meet the execution team’s needs.
“It really just sounds like it was a disorganized mess,” Cohen said.
Dr. David Lubarsky, a Florida-based anesthesiologist, testified Wednesday that midazolam is not a proper drug to induce unconsciousness, nor does it have the reliable ability to maintain unconsciousness.
After the companies and pharmacies that produce lethal injection drugs stopped supplying the barbiturates typically used for executions, some states turned to midazolam. Lockett was given 100 milligrams of midazolam, a dosage never before used in the United States. Florida has used 500 milligrams in almost one dozen executions, and Oklahoma’s new protocol also calls for that amount.
Lubarsky said midazolam, a benzodiazepine, has a ceiling and ceases to have a deeper effect once that dosage is hit. He said that is not the case with barbituates, which are typically used in lethal injections. Lubarsky added that in some patients, such as those with behavioral disorders and a history of drug abuse, midazolam can have the opposite desired effect.
Lubarsky said he also believed Lockett regained consciousness, based on witness accounts. He said midazolam is not a reliable anesthetic, and Lockett would have felt the vecuronium bromide injection that followed like “liquid fire.”
Testimony heard Wednesday was the first of three days of hearings scheduled in the case, where 21 death row inmates are asking the federal court to block the state from killing them using the same procedure used to execute Lockett.
Several witnesses were called to testify Wednesday, including Oklahoma State Penitentiary Warden Anita Trammell. Trammell said she knew almost nothing about midazolam, but she, Corrections Department Director Robert Patton and members of the execution team were aware that it would potentially take longer than drugs used in the past. She said in the hours leading up to the execution, the team decided to check Lockett’s consciousness more frequently during the procedure, but no other training or research was done on her part.
Other state employees who witnessed the execution testified, giving varying accounts of the event. A victim services coordinator for the attorney general’s office said she did not see evidence that Lockett was suffering, and a victim’s services worker for the state Corrections Department recalled the procedure as disturbing and confusing.
The state argued the improper placement of the IV was the major issue, not midazolam, and that and other problems encountered during Lockett’s execution have been addressed in the new protocol. Assistant Attorney General John Hadden said they are anticipating the drug will be used in upcoming executions, unless a more traditional barbiturate, such as pentobarbital, is acquired.
The state has four scheduled executions, the first on Jan. 15.
Editor's note: You can read the document below.
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Federal judge to decide if Oklahoma can resume executions
The state revised its procedures in the wake of the botched execution of Clayton Lockett but attorneys claim these would violate US constitution
Scene at botched Oklahoma execution of Clayton Locket was ‘a bloody mess’
Death penalty secrecy imperils integrity of the procedure, US judge is warned
By Tom Dart, December 17, 2014
A federal hearing into whether Oklahoma can resume lethal injections began on Wednesday, eight months after the prolonged and bloody death of Clayton Lockett brought a halt to executions in the state.
Oklahoma has revised its execution protocols but attorneys for 21 death row inmates claim that the new procedures are experimental and put their clients at risk of a “cruel and unusual” punishment that would violate the US constitution.
The state says its new plans and improved staff training make a repeat of Lockett’s botched death unlikely. It has scheduled two executions next month: Charles Warner for 15 January and Richard Glossip two weeks later.
Lockett’s execution on 29 April at the state penitentiary in McAlester took 43 minutes. Documents indicate the 38-year-old convicted murderer and rapist moaned and writhed on the gurney as medical officials repeatedly failed to place an intravenous line in his body. After at least 16 attempts over the course of an hour, a doctor tried to set a new IV line in Lockett’s groin area. It hit an artery, causing blood to squirt on to the doctor’s clothes.
The prison warden, Anita Trammell, called the scene “a bloody mess” according to a court filing. She said she was “sitting there thinking to myself I’ve never seen the cut down so I didn’t know how bloody it would be and I thought – I purposely did not get up to look because I – I didn’t wanna have a bad reaction to it.” When Lockett’s blood spurted, the doctor said he had to “get enough money out of this to go buy a new jacket”.
After about 15 minutes, prison officials drew blinds to hide events from the view of witnesses. Lockett continued trying to rise up and became “a little bit more aggressive”, a member of the execution team said. State officials then agreed to stop the execution but Lockett died from the effects of the drugs, an autopsy report found. No attempt was made to resuscitate him.
Court documents filed last week by the inmates’ attorneys indicate that staff training was inadequate or nonexistent, there was no contingency plan and that the prison was ill-equipped and had to borrow medical supplies. The doctor who inserted the IV line into Lockett said the prison’s needles were the wrong length.
In the build-up, Oklahoma – in common with several other states in recent years – struggled to source execution drugs. The process appeared to be less than thorough and scientific, with a senior official admitting that he researched one drug on the internet by reading “Wiki leaks” – presumably meaning Wikipedia.
“I did have a discussion with our medical director at the time and he said, ‘Yeah midazolam probably when administered will, will render sedation.’ And that’s all he would say,” said Michael Oakley, former general counsel for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, who retired a week before Lockett’s death.
“Then, you know, I did my own research, I looked online, you know. Went past the key Wiki leaks, Wiki leaks or whatever it is, and I did find out that when administered, midazolam would administer, would render a person unconscious. That’s what we needed ... So we thought it was OK.”
Oakley said that said as officials searched for drugs there was “political pressure” to “get it done” because state attorney general is an elected role. The state amended its protocol a month before Lockett’s execution to give Trammell “sole discretion” as to which “lethal agent” to use, but the filing indicates that she played no part in the decision to switch from the hard-to-find pentobarbital to another sedative, midazolam.
Lockett was executed using a three-drug combination of midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride seemingly procured from a licensed pharmacist in Oklahoma.
Midazolam, a newcomer to the US execution landscape, was used in three highly problematic deaths this year: Lockett, Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire in January and Joseph Wood, who took almost two hours to die in Arizona in July.
Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin ordered an investigation following Lockett’s death which concluded that the inability to set up a successful IV access point was the single biggest failing. It did not address whether the continued use of midazolam was appropriate. Florida is the only other state to use midazolam in a three-drug protocol, and has done so eight times this year without problems on the scale of Lockett’s execution.
In October, Oklahoma issued new guidelines which allow for four possible lethal injection combinations. Two involve midazolam in a dose five times greater than was used for Lockett. The death chamber was renovated at a cost of $106,000.
In addition the number of media witnesses to executions was reduced from 12 to five. In August the Guardian was among plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit alleging that Oklahoma’s denial of public access to the full procedure of Lockett’s death violated the constitutional right to press freedom.
The court documents provide detail about the seemingly mundane and routine aspects to what proved a deeply abnormal procedure. The three unnamed executioners were driven to the state penitentiary in a van, putting on hoods when they were about three blocks away. One said he was typically paid $300 per death.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/17/lockett-executionwasabloodymessofficialssay.html
Judge hears of 'bloody mess' execution as Okla. seeks to lift moratorium
State put a stop on carrying out death sentence after botched procedure of inmate
By Marisa Taylor, December 17, 2014
A federal judge heard witness testimonies on Wednesday regarding Oklahoma's attempt to resume executing prisoners, just nine months after the lethal injection of Clayton Lockett lasted an excruciating 43 minutes during which his vein burst causing what one warden described as “a bloody mess.”
Attorneys representing 21 death-row inmates in Oklahoma filed court documents last Friday revealing that Lockett’s death was far more grisly than previously portrayed, according to The Tulsa World newspaper on Sunday.
In court testimony Wednesday, Dr Joseph Cohen, a pathologist hired by the inmate's lawyer, said he was convinced Lockett suffered after being declared unconscious.
"Mr. Lockett had been deemed unconscious but became conscious again," Cohen testified at the hearing, which will decide if Oklahoma should resume executions Jan. 15 after a self-imposed moratorium.
The public had already learned that Lockett’s April 29 execution lasted nearly 45 minutes and that his protracted death was only the latest in a string of executions that went awry. Descriptions of his final minutes reignited controversy around the usage of secret, untested drugs.
But according to The Tulsa World, previous reports left out additional gruesome details of Lockett’s death, which the state’s public safety office tried to keep sealed.
One witness said the execution “was like a horror movie,” the newspaper reported, with a paramedic describing 16 failed attempts to find Lockett’s vein.
Oklahoma State Penitentiary warden Anita Trammell told prison officials that Lockett’s artery burst causing “a bloody mess,” according to the new court documents (PDF).
The doctor administering the intravenous drugs, Trammell said, “commented that he had to ‘get enough money out of this to go and buy a new jacket,’” the documents said.
The doctor was finally able to administer the sedative midazolam through Lockett’s femoral vein, marking the first time Oklahoma had ever used the drug during an execution.
When the doctor tried to find a second IV line, he accidentally hit an artery and blood backed up into the IV line, the paramedic recalled, “I don’t think he realized that he hit the artery, and I remember saying you’ve got the artery. We’ve got blood everywhere,’” the documents said.
When Trammell was asked what the plan was if they did find another vein, considering they had already injected all the drugs they had, “she said there was no plan.”
The executioners involved in the process reported that Lockett had a violent reaction to the drugs, writhing on the table and lurching upward.
“In my opinion, he tried to get up, because it floored me,’” the executioner told investigators, according to the documents.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections director Robert Patton admitted in the court documents that he had learned in March that it didn’t have the proper drugs required by the state’s execution procedures and wouldn’t be able to obtain them due to a shortage.
Patton also admitted that the drug cocktail was not chosen by Trammell, but rather by the attorney general’s office, which did online research using “Wiki leaks or whatever it is,’” the court records said.
The office also read transcripts of an expert witness who had testified in Florida on the use of midazolam for an execution, but they never had an actual conversation about it.
“’I signed the damn thing,’” Trammell said, according to the court records. “’I did not write that policy. I did not choose those drugs.’”
Patton explained that there was political pressure to make the decision quickly. “The staff over there was under a lot of pressure to, to say, ‘Get it done,’” he said in the court documents. He added, “’I got to say there was a definite push to make the decision, get it done, hurry up about it.’”
While the governor stayed Lockett’s execution as the situation devolved, official autopsy results showed that Lockett died as a result of the drug cocktail given to him.
Prison authorities in multiple states are facing heightened pressure to halt executions following a series of disastrous executions. In Ohio, for example, executioners used an untested combination of drugs that caused condemned inmate Dennis McGuire to gasp and sputter for 30 minutes, the longest execution in the state in 15 years.
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Oklahoma death row inmates ask judge to halt punishment after botched execution
BY ABBY BROYLES, DECEMBER 17, 2014
OKLAHOMA– 21 death row inmates are asking a judge to halt their punishment, following the botched execution of convicted killer Clayton Lockett last April.
Lockett was sentenced to die for the 1999 murder of Stephanie Nieman.
The inmates are suing the state, saying Oklahoma’s execution procedures are nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment.
Now, a federal judge will have to decide if there could be harm to these inmates with the protocols in place, and whether or not they could be successful in a permanent injunction.
A doctor who performed an autopsy on Lockett’s body testified Wednesday that he “likely suffered conscious pain and suffering.”
He also testified that there were 16 separate punctures, some that caused hemorrhaging.
That same doctor said he was concerned about the experience of the physicians who did Lockett’s execution, calling it all a “disorganized mess.”
“That’s why we’re here, to determine what is decent in the use of the death penalty. How much pain can be inflicted, because there`s going to be a degree of pain when someone is executed. And what these plaintiffs are saying is there are other methods that could be used that are less painful,” legal analyst, David McKenzie said.
Attorneys for the State of Oklahoma say the use of narcotics in executions is not cruel and unusual.
Based on what happened to Lockett, the plaintiffs disagree.
The warden of the state penitentiary also testified Wednesday.
She was in charge of execution protocol during Lockett’s execution.
She testified that they used a new drug to sedate him, one that she didn’t do any research on.
It was reported that Lockett regained consciousness on the table and there was no contingency plan in place.
“By being conscious as they were trying to suppress his breathing, it’s my understanding he panicked and tried to get up, and various witnesses in the execution room, some whom I’ve spoken to personally, said he appeared to be in pain,” McKenzie said.
The Department of Safety has been investigating. They pointed to a failed IV being the biggest problem.
Investigators also said the prison didn’t have key medical equipment.
There was another execution planned after Lockett, but it was postponed. The warden testified it was complicated having two executions in one night.
Testimony could last a few more days.
Attorneys for the state say new protocol would require additional training and safeguards.
If the judge grants the temporary injunction, there will be no executions in Oklahoma until there’s a bigger, full-blown hearing, several months down the road.
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http://www.krmg.com/news/news/local/death-row-inmates-may-have-painful-death/njWSy/
Death row inmates may have painful death
21 inmates challenging state's method of execution
By Don Bishop
Some death row inmates may experience pain and suffering when they die.
Lawyers for 21 death row inmates say Oklahoma's bungled execution in April is evidence of what to expect from the state's lethal injection protocol.
By Don Bishop, December 18, 2014
Some death row inmates may experience pain and suffering when they die.
Lawyers for 21 death row inmates say Oklahoma's bungled execution in April is evidence of what to expect from the state's lethal injection protocol.
Testimony is scheduled to continue Thursday in a federal court in Oklahoma City where the inmates are challenging the state's method of execution.
Much of the case centers on the use of the sedative midazolam as the first in a three-drug combination.
The combination was used for the first time in Oklahoma during the April 29 execution of Clayton Lockett.
He writhed on the gurney, mumbled and lifted his head before dying after the execution was halted.
Attorneys for the state say new execution protocols and staff training will prevent similar problems from happening again.
Oklahoma's next execution is set for Jan. 15.
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