An Oklahoma inmate who was supposed to be executed Tuesday instead died of a heart attack after the execution was botched, state officials said.
Clayton Lockett’s execution Tuesday night was halted after about 20 minutes due to an issue with a vein, the Associated Press reported. Not long after Lockett was deemed unconscious from the first of three drugs, he began “writhing on the gurney,” according to the Associated Press. He was declared dead 43 minutes after the execution began.
Lockett and Charles F. Warner were both supposed to be executed Tuesday night, Lockett at 6 p.m. and Warner at 8 p.m. After the botched execution, Warner’s execution has been stayed for two weeks. Lockett was convicted of shooting a teenager and watching as she was buried alive; Warner was convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend’s 11-month-old baby.
The attorney for Warner had criticized the use of an experimental new drug protocol in the execution earlier on Tuesday.
Not to be overly simplistic here but how hard is it to kill people humanely? Don’t get me wrong. The descriptions of what these two were sentenced to death for doesn’t engender pity or sympathy from me. One of them writhes in pain? Boo-effen-hoo. What did their victims do?
My problem surrounding all this “botched execution” stems from the idea that we, as a society, need to be better, far better, than those we are legally killing. We somehow manage to put down our pets humanely, when their time has come. Why can’t those on death row just be “put to sleep?” Surely this isn’t such a difficult process.
I’ve never understood it.
Ever since I learned about the dangers of going into formerly closed spaces without checking for oxygen first….. I wondered why executions are so hard for states.
If you go into a space that is primarily Nitrogen…you pass out. Quickly. No muss. No fuss. Because of no CO2…you get no choking feeling. Painless.
I think this discussion ought to be more about who we execute. The lack of true certainty disturbs me.
I know for a fact what having money does to charges and sentencing.
I think that our entire criminal justice system is corrupt and primitive. Our prisons are simply evil. The death cocktails are inexcusable. I fail to see what the issue is. Use whatever we put our animals down with if and only if there is certainty that the person on death row did the crime.
If the State is going to kill people pursuant to legal process (a policy about which I have doubts as to its morality, necessity and effectiveness), I’m not sure why hanging and shooting aren’t acceptable. It seems that the injection idea was, in concept, a way to tidy things up for public consumption.
It was probably a way to sanitize legal killing. We do it in war movies, why not in executions?
I hope that doesn’t happen to our pets when we put them down.
No one has said why we can’t put those on death row “to sleep.” Is there just not enough drama doing that?
Electrocution is pretty freaking brutal. Hanging, quick and dirty, if they die.
He shot a 19 year old and watched as pals buried her alive. I know it’s not about what he did….but….and the pals got life.
His relatives must not have ponied up for a decent lawyer. Why did they get life and he gets zapped?
Usually capital punishment is reserved for those that have taken another one’s life. Why should it need to be civil? The death sentence should be enforced with a fate similar to the fate of the victim. Hard to feel bad that he did not go in such a peaceful way.
We need to respect the constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment even for the most vile criminal to remind us that the other rights are also available to everyone.
I don’t want my ability to criticize the government or practice my religion to be based on public approval (or the absence of public revulsion).
Interesting comment, Ed. Care to expound on your remarks?
Wouldn’t a heroin overdose be quick and painless?
Vlad says impale them.
If we can ignore the constitutional provision on treating a prisoner humanely because everyone finds him a horrible piece of scum, then we have carved out an exception to the rights enumerated in the constitution. We don’t have equal protection if the public’s emotions can veto a constitutional right. If we don’t have equal protection then my religious beliefs can likewise be overruled by the mob that is morally offended by my existence and practices.
The criminal justice system is not a conduit for revenge or imposition of morality. When someone behaves badly we must stop the behavior by restricting their ability to repeat the behavior (otherwise known as incarceration) for public safety. The only reason for capital punishment is if you think that even in prison the criminal is able to harm others. There are few people that fit this description but Bin Laden was one. His incarceration likely would have resulted in hostage taking and suicide missions to allow his escape. Public safety required that he not be captured alive. Otherwise, capital punishment should not be some sort of ultimate revenge.
Thank you, Ed. You have given me a lot to think about. I am not anti-death penalty. I used to be but I “evolved” into thinking that there were some people out there so horrible that there wasn’t any point in keeping them alive.
You know, I don’t disagree with you. Not at all. I just can’t bring myself to not want to humanely kill someone who rapes an 11 month old baby or who buries someone alive.
Maybe I am trying to say that intellectually I agree with you but in my gut I want to zap some of the most heinous crime commiters.
Our criminal system often does not protect society. Or perhaps it can’t. Conundrum.