Oklahoma inmate DIES of heart attack after 40 mins drug execution goes WRONG causing his vein to explode
A death row inmate spent forty minutes writhing in agony before dying of a heart attack following a new drug combination Tuesday night.
Oklahoma prison officials halted Clayton Lockett's execution after the new drug combination left the man writhing and clenching his teeth on the gurney.
The 38-year-old, who was found guilty of shooting a woman and watching his friends bury her alive, was declared unconscious ten minutes after the first of the state's new three-drug lethal injection combination was administered.
Three minutes later, though, he began breathing heavily, writhing, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow.
The blinds were eventually lowered to prevent those in the viewing gallery from watching what was happening in the death chamber, and the state's top prison official eventually called a halt to the proceedings.
Lockett died of a heart attack a short time later, the Department of Corrections said.
Local media present said Mr Lockett sat up and said 'something’s wrong' 13 minutes into the procedure.
'It was a horrible thing to witness. This was totally botched,' said Lockett's attorney, David Autry.
Tuesday was the first time Oklahoma used the drug midazolam as the first element in its execution drug combination
Other states have used it before; Florida administers 500 milligrams of midazolam as part of its three-drug combination. Oklahoma used 100 milligrams of that drug.
'They should have anticipated possible problems with an untried execution protocol,' Autry said.
'Obviously the whole thing was gummed up and botched from beginning to end. Halting the execution obviously did Lockett no good.'
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin ordered a 14-day stay of execution for an inmate who was scheduled to die two hours after Lockett, Charles Warner.
he also ordered the state's Department of Corrections to conduct a 'full review of Oklahoma's execution procedures to determine what happened and why during this evening's execution.'
Robert Patton, the department's director, halted Lockett's execution about 20 minutes after the first drug was administered. He later said there had been vein failure.
The execution began at 6:23 p.m., when officials began administering the first drug, the sedative midazolam.
A doctor declared Lockett to be unconscious at 6:33 p.m.
Once an inmate is declared unconscious, the state's execution protocol calls for the second drug, a paralytic, to be administered.
The third drug in the protocol is potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
Patton said the second and third drugs were being administered when a problem was noticed. He said it's unclear how much of the drugs made it into the inmate's system.
Lockett began writhing at 6:36. At 6:39, a doctor lifted the sheet that was covering the inmate to examine the injection site.
'There was some concern at that time that the drugs were not having that (desired) effect, and the doctor observed the line at that time and determined the line had blown,' Patton said at a news conference afterward, referring to Lockett's vein rupturing.
After an official lowered the blinds, Patton made a series of phone calls before calling a halt to the execution.
'After conferring with the warden, and unknown how much drugs went into him, it was my decision at that time to stop the execution,' Patton told reporters.
Lockett was declared dead at 7:06 p.m.
Autry, Lockett's attorney, was immediately skeptical of the department's determination the issue was limited to a problem with Lockett's vein.
'I'm not a medical professional, but Mr. Lockett was not someone who had compromised veins,' Autry said. 'He was in very good shape. He had large arms and very prominent veins.'
Adam Leathers, co-chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, accused the state of having 'tortured a human being in an unconstitutional experimental act of evil,' reported CNN.
In Ohio, the January execution of an inmate who made snorting and gasping sounds led to a civil rights lawsuit by his family and calls for a moratorium.
The state has stood by the execution but said Monday that it's boosting the dosages of its lethal injection drugs.
A four-time felon, Lockett was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman with a sawed-off shotgun and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in rural Kay County in 1999 after Neiman and a friend arrived at a home the men were robbing.
Warner had been scheduled to be put to death two hours later in the same room and on the same gurney.
The 46-year-old was convicted of raping and killing his roommate's 11-month-old daughter in 1997.
He has maintained his innocence.
Lockett and Warner had sued the state for refusing to disclose details about the execution drugs, including where Oklahoma obtained them.
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, Fallin had issued a stay of her own - a one-week delay in Lockett's execution that resulted in both men being scheduled to die on the same day.
Warner was served a final meal Tuesday of 20 boneless chicken wings, potato wedges, cole slaw, two fruit cocktail cups and a 20-ounce soda.
Lockett's request of steak, shrimp, a large baked potato and a Kentucky Bourbon pecan pie was denied because it exceeded the $15 limit.
He declined a separate offer from the warden for a dinner from Western Sizzlin', prison officials said.
Oklahoma prison officials halted Clayton Lockett's execution after the new drug combination left the man writhing and clenching his teeth on the gurney.
The 38-year-old, who was found guilty of shooting a woman and watching his friends bury her alive, was declared unconscious ten minutes after the first of the state's new three-drug lethal injection combination was administered.
Three minutes later, though, he began breathing heavily, writhing, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow.
The blinds were eventually lowered to prevent those in the viewing gallery from watching what was happening in the death chamber, and the state's top prison official eventually called a halt to the proceedings.
Lockett died of a heart attack a short time later, the Department of Corrections said.
Local media present said Mr Lockett sat up and said 'something’s wrong' 13 minutes into the procedure.
'It was a horrible thing to witness. This was totally botched,' said Lockett's attorney, David Autry.
Tuesday was the first time Oklahoma used the drug midazolam as the first element in its execution drug combination
Other states have used it before; Florida administers 500 milligrams of midazolam as part of its three-drug combination. Oklahoma used 100 milligrams of that drug.
'They should have anticipated possible problems with an untried execution protocol,' Autry said.
'Obviously the whole thing was gummed up and botched from beginning to end. Halting the execution obviously did Lockett no good.'
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin ordered a 14-day stay of execution for an inmate who was scheduled to die two hours after Lockett, Charles Warner.
he also ordered the state's Department of Corrections to conduct a 'full review of Oklahoma's execution procedures to determine what happened and why during this evening's execution.'
Robert Patton, the department's director, halted Lockett's execution about 20 minutes after the first drug was administered. He later said there had been vein failure.
The execution began at 6:23 p.m., when officials began administering the first drug, the sedative midazolam.
A doctor declared Lockett to be unconscious at 6:33 p.m.
Once an inmate is declared unconscious, the state's execution protocol calls for the second drug, a paralytic, to be administered.
The third drug in the protocol is potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
Patton said the second and third drugs were being administered when a problem was noticed. He said it's unclear how much of the drugs made it into the inmate's system.
Lockett began writhing at 6:36. At 6:39, a doctor lifted the sheet that was covering the inmate to examine the injection site.
'There was some concern at that time that the drugs were not having that (desired) effect, and the doctor observed the line at that time and determined the line had blown,' Patton said at a news conference afterward, referring to Lockett's vein rupturing.
After an official lowered the blinds, Patton made a series of phone calls before calling a halt to the execution.
'After conferring with the warden, and unknown how much drugs went into him, it was my decision at that time to stop the execution,' Patton told reporters.
Lockett was declared dead at 7:06 p.m.
Autry, Lockett's attorney, was immediately skeptical of the department's determination the issue was limited to a problem with Lockett's vein.
'I'm not a medical professional, but Mr. Lockett was not someone who had compromised veins,' Autry said. 'He was in very good shape. He had large arms and very prominent veins.'
Adam Leathers, co-chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, accused the state of having 'tortured a human being in an unconstitutional experimental act of evil,' reported CNN.
In Ohio, the January execution of an inmate who made snorting and gasping sounds led to a civil rights lawsuit by his family and calls for a moratorium.
The state has stood by the execution but said Monday that it's boosting the dosages of its lethal injection drugs.
A four-time felon, Lockett was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman with a sawed-off shotgun and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in rural Kay County in 1999 after Neiman and a friend arrived at a home the men were robbing.
Warner had been scheduled to be put to death two hours later in the same room and on the same gurney.
The 46-year-old was convicted of raping and killing his roommate's 11-month-old daughter in 1997.
He has maintained his innocence.
Lockett and Warner had sued the state for refusing to disclose details about the execution drugs, including where Oklahoma obtained them.
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, Fallin had issued a stay of her own - a one-week delay in Lockett's execution that resulted in both men being scheduled to die on the same day.
Warner was served a final meal Tuesday of 20 boneless chicken wings, potato wedges, cole slaw, two fruit cocktail cups and a 20-ounce soda.
Lockett's request of steak, shrimp, a large baked potato and a Kentucky Bourbon pecan pie was denied because it exceeded the $15 limit.
He declined a separate offer from the warden for a dinner from Western Sizzlin', prison officials said.
Source : AP , SkyNews, DailyMail , KJRH
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