(Reuters-By Heide Brandes) – Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett died during a botched execution on Tuesday, minutes after a doctor had called a halt to the procedure, raising more questions about new death penalty cocktails used by the state and others.
Thirteen minutes after a doctor administered a lethal injection at the state’s death chamber in McAlester, Lockett lifted his head and started mumbling. The doctor halted the execution, said state corrections department spokesman Jerry Massie.
Lockett died of an apparent massive heart attack about 40 minutes after the procedure started, he said.
“We believe that a vein was blown and the drugs weren’t working as they were designed to. The director ordered a halt to the execution,” Massie said.
The troubled execution was expected to have national implications, with lawyers for death row inmates having argued that new lethal injection cocktails used in Oklahoma and other states could cause undue suffering and violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
“This could be a real turning point in the whole debate as people get disgusted by this sort of thing,” said Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors capital punishment.
“This might lead to a halt in executions until states can prove they can do it without problems. Someone was killed tonight by incompetence,” Dieter said.
DOC releases timeline of final hours leading up to botched execution
