Posted on 04/30/2014 10:15:39 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
An Oklahoma inmate whose execution was halted tonight because the delivery of a new drug combination was botched died of a heart attack, the head of the state Department of Corrections said. The execution began at 6:23pm when officials began administering the first drug, and a doctor declared Clayton Lockett to be unconscious at 6:33pm. About three minutes later, though, Lockett began breathing heavily, writhing on the gurney, clenching his teeth, and straining to lift his head off the pillow. After about three minutes, a doctor lifted the sheet that was covering Lockett to examine the injection site "and the doctor observed the line at that time and determined the line had blown," Director Robert Patton said at a news conference afterward, referring to Lockett's vein rupturing.
After that, an official who was inside the death chamber lowered the blinds, preventing those in the viewing room from seeing what was happening. Patton then made a series of phone calls before calling a halt to the execution about 20 minutes after the first drug was administered (all three drugs were administered). "After conferring with the warden, and [not knowing] how much drugs went into him, it was my decision at that time to stop the execution," Patton told reporters. He also issued a 14-day postponement in the execution of inmate Charles Warner, who had been scheduled to die two hours after Lockett was put to death.
If he dies then, by definition, the execution was a success.
Oklahoma Botches Execution; Inmate Dies
BTW, it would make sense if it said, “Oklahoma Botches Execution; Inmate Lives”.
If he dies then, by definition, the execution was a success.
So he suffered a little bit, ppfftt, “what difference does it make!”
It was not "botched" - he would have been fully unconscious had he not had an extremely painful heart attack at that moment which wrenched him back into consciousness.
Exactly! Botched?
Why is it that I fully expect this was probably more humane than what his victim got.
I don’t know the guy’s story. They don’t execute unless someone was murdered.
Precisely. It’d have been botched if the criminal were still living.
Public hanging would be fine with me, it appeared to work OK for a long time.
Same results...dead.
The execution was almost a success, as the inmate was recovering.
To quote the great Dr. McCoy... “He’s dead, Jim.”
Exactly. I wish the courts would focus on the important parts: making sure that the right guy is convicted and punished. Not so much worrying about how the 2nd part gets accomplished.
Exactly!
Firing squad - boom - done
Hanging - whoosh - done
Electric chair - zzzzzzzz - done
Gas chamber - hhhiiissss - done
Lethal injection - maybe - maybe not
It doesn't sound botched at all.
We use humane means for executions not for the criminal’s benefit, but for our own, so that the disposition of justice does not succumb to the idea of blood lust.
If an accident happens that causes the criminal some undue agony, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, as long as it was truly an accident and not an “accident”, if you get my drift.
Maybe there is a payday for him in it.
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