Clayton Lockett, left, and Charles Warner, right, are suing the state over its lethal injection process.
UPDATE: The Oklahoma Department Of Corrections announced Tuesday evening that because of complications with the execution of Clayton Lockett, the execution of Charles Warner would be delayed 14 days.
D.O.C. Director Robert Patton said Lockett received his first injection at 6:23 p.m.
Seven minutes later, the other drugs were injected into his body.
However, Lockett maintained consciousness and witnesses say he began slowly convulsing.
Minutes later, a doctor in the room decided to stop the execution after a “vein line had blown” in Lockett, according to Patton.
At 7:06 p.m., 43 minutes after his first injection, Lockett suffered a heart attack and died inside the execution room, Patton said.
NewsChannel 4′s Courtney Francisco was a witness to the scheduled execution, she provided the following time line:
6:23 PM – Prison officials raise the blinds. Execution begins.
6:28 PM – Inmate shivering, sheet shaking. Breathing deep.
6:29 PM – Inmate blinking and gritting his teeth. Adjusts his head.
6:30 PM – Prison officials check to see if inmate is unconscious. Doctor says “He’s not unconscious”. Inmate says “I’m not.” Female prison official says, “Mr. Lockett is not unconscious.”
6:32 PM – Inmate’s breathing is normal, mouth open, eyes shut. For a second time, prison officials check to see if inmate is unconscious.
6:33 PM – Doctor says, “He is unconscious”. Prison official says “Mr. Lockett is unconscious.”
6:34 PM – Inmate’s mouth twitches. No sign of breathing.
6:35 PM – Mouth movement.
6:36 PM – Inmate’s head moves from side to side, then lifts his head off the bed.
6:37 PM – Inmate lifts his head and feet slightly off the bed. Inmate tries to say something, mumbles while moving body.
6:38 pm – More movement by the inmate. At this point the inmate is breathing heavily and appears to be struggling.
6:39 PM – Inmate tries to talk. Says “Man” and appears to be trying to get up. Doctor checks on inmate. Female prison official says, “We are going to lower the blinds temporarily”. Prison phone rings. Director of Prisons, Robert Patton answers the phone and leaves the room – taking three state officials with him.
Minutes later – The Director Of Prisons comes back into the room and tells the eyewitnesses that there has been a vein failure. He says, “The chemical did not make it into the vein of the prisoner. Under my authority, we are issuing a stay of execution.”
MCALESTER, Okla. Two Oklahoma death row inmates will be executed Tuesday night after weeks of legal battles involving their attempt to know the source of the drugs that will be used to kill them.
Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner have argued the state’s secrecy over the combination of lethal drugs violates their constitutional rights and could result in a cruel and unusual death.
Lockett and Warner are part of a double execution which the state has not carried out since the late 1930s.
Clayton Lockett, found guilty of kidnapping, beating, raping and shooting a 19-year-old woman and then burying her alive will be put to death at 6 p.m. in McAlester at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
Charles Warner who was found guilty of raping and killing an 11-month-old baby in 1997 will follow with lethal injection at 8 p.m.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court eventually lifted a stay of execution and ruled the inmates’ claims were “frivolous and not grounded in the law.”
Justice Steven Taylor wrote:
“The plaintiffs have no more right to the information they requested than if they were being executed in the electric chair, they would have no right to know whether OG&E or PSO were providing the electricity; if they were being hanged, they would have no right to know whether it be cotton or nylon rope; or if they were being executed by firing squad, they would have no right to know whether it be by Winchester or Remington ammunition.”
Department Of Corrections Spokesperson Jerry Massie said the drugs that will be used are midazolam (creates drowsiness, anxiety), vecuronium bromide (muscle relaxer), and potassium chloride (stops heart).
Diane Clay, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, said the court’s decision affirmed a longstanding precedent that the source of the execution drugs should remain confidential to avoid “intimidation used by defense counsel and other anti-death penalty groups.”
“These death row inmates have not contested their guilt for murdering two innocent victims nor have they contested their sentences of death,” Clay said. “The legal wrangling of the attorneys for Lockett and Warner has served only to delay their punishment for the heinous crimes they committed.”
Read more: http://kfor.com/