The governor of Oklahoma called for an independent review of how the state conducts executions after a botched procedure that was expected to intensify the debate over how the US handles lethal injections.
The White House on Wednesday said that the execution of Clayton Lockett, who had an apparent heart attack 43 minutes after his execution began, fell short of the humane standards required. The manner of his death drew censure from human rights groups.
“Last night’s botched execution was nothing less than state-sanctioned torture,” Antonio Ginatta, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said Lockett had his day in court and the legal process worked.
“I believe the death penalty is an appropriate response and punishment to those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women,” Fallin said. “However, I also believe the state needs to be certain of its protocols and its procedures for executions and that they work.”
Lockett convulsed violently and tried to lift his head after a doctor declared him unconscious, and prison officials halted the execution.
Fallin said “an independent review” would be effective and appropriate.
The governor said the review, to be led by the state’s commissioner for public safety, Michael Thompson, will focus on Lockett’s cause of death and an independent pathologist will make that determination. The review will also look at whether the department followed the protocol correctly and will include recommendations for future executions.
Fallin said a stay for Charles Warner, who had been scheduled to die two hours after Lockett, is in place until May 13. She said Warner’s execution will be further delayed if the review is not complete by then.
Warner’s attorney objected to the investigation being led by a member of Fallin’s Cabinet.
“I don’t consider that to be an independent investigation,” lawyer Madeline Cohen said.
The Oklahoma Board of Corrections planned to meet in a closed-door session yesterday to discuss the investigation and “possible litigation” connected to Lockett’s execution.
Lockett, 38, had been declared unconscious 10 minutes after the first of three drugs in the state’s new lethal injection combination was administered on Tuesday.
Three minutes later, he began breathing heavily, clenching his teeth. The blinds were lowered to prevent those in the viewing gallery from watching, and the state’s top prison official later halted the proceedings.
Lockett died of a heart attack shortly thereafter, the Department of Corrections said. Officials later blamed a ruptured vein for the problems with Lockett’s execution.
Previously, most executions in Oklahoma, which used different fast-acting barbiturates, were completed and the inmate declared dead within about 10 minutes of the procedure’s start.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said US President Barack Obama believes that evidence suggests the death penalty does little to deter crime.
“But it’s also the case that we have a fundamental standard in this country that even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely,” Carney said. “Everyone would recognize this case fell short of this standard.”
Lockett was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in 1999.
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