poledriver
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Botched execution of Clayton Lockett could lead to return of gas chamber in Oklahoma
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A US state is considering bringing back the gas chamber after the 43-minute-long botched execution of a convicted murderer and rapist last year.
Politicians in Oklahoma have given their preliminary approval to execute prisoners by nitrogen hypoxia, which is thought to be the most humane form of capital punishment.
Republican Mike Christian, who wrote the bill that could lead to the changes, described death by toxic gas as a “euphoric feeling”.
Oklahoma would become the first US state to bring back the gas chamber after it was removed in favour of lethal injection decades ago. If successful, Clayton Lockett’s prolonged execution will have been the catalyst.
‘HE WAS CONSCIOUS AND BLINKING, LICKING HIS LIPS’
The Senate Judiciary Committee in Oklahoma voted 9-0 to authorise death by nitrogen hypoxia as a backup method if drugs administered during lethal injection become unavailable pending a US Supreme Court inquiry.
The court is reviewing the lethal injection method after Lockett died from cardiac arrest, 43 minutes into an execution that should’ve been immediate.
Lockett, 38, was convicted of kidnapping, beating, raping, shooting and burying alive a 19-year-old woman and sentenced to death. His execution was supposed to be simple but turned into a nightmare for the inmate, those administering the drugs and the state’s politicians.
At 6.23pm on April 29, 2014, Lockett was administered with a sedative. It took 10 minutes for doctors to declare him unconscious. He wasn’t.
Doctors tried to administer three lethal drugs but 20 minutes into the execution the prisoner was still not dead. Lockett was lifting his head and writhing on the bed. The execution was called off before Lockett died at 7.06pm from a heart attack. Autopsy results showed Lockett’s vein had collapsed and the drugs had absorbed into his tissue.
Reporter Bailey Elise McBride witnessed the execution and said Lockett was “conscious and blinking, licking his lips even after the process began”. She said Lockett was unconscious at 6.33pm and “began to nod, mumble, move body” at 6.34pm.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH LETHAL INJECTION?
The execution of Lockett was controversial before it started. He and fellow prisoner Charles Warner were to be executed in the state’s first double execution in 80 years. Not only that, they were to be the first people executed using the state’s new three-drug method.
The Supreme Court inquiry is looking into whether the sedative midazolam properly renders an inmate unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered. In Lockett’s case, it clearly did not.
Officials in Oklahoma have conceded that midazolam, used in the emergency management of seizures, is not the most effective drug for sedation. The problem is that more effective drugs are unavailable.
If lethal injection is found to be unconstitutional, Oklahoma would resort to the use of the electric chair. A third option would be the firing squad. The building of a gas chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary would cost taxpayers $300,000 according to Huffington Post and become the second option in place of the electric chair.
Other states are considering their options, too. Tennessee passed a law last year to bring back the electric chair if lethal drugs are ruled out. Utah is considering bringing back the firing squad, as is Wyoming, passed legislation in January to do just that.
A total of 35 death row inmates were executed in seven US states in 2014, all by lethal injection.
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-...mber-in-oklahoma/story-fnh81jut-1227222489062
Lethal injections are on hold, and that means the gas chamber could return. Source: AP
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A US state is considering bringing back the gas chamber after the 43-minute-long botched execution of a convicted murderer and rapist last year.
Politicians in Oklahoma have given their preliminary approval to execute prisoners by nitrogen hypoxia, which is thought to be the most humane form of capital punishment.
Republican Mike Christian, who wrote the bill that could lead to the changes, described death by toxic gas as a “euphoric feeling”.
Oklahoma would become the first US state to bring back the gas chamber after it was removed in favour of lethal injection decades ago. If successful, Clayton Lockett’s prolonged execution will have been the catalyst.
Restraints used to hold down inmates during executions by lethal injection. Source: Supplied
Clayton Lockett died after 43 minutes on a bed in an Oklahoman prison. Source: AP
‘HE WAS CONSCIOUS AND BLINKING, LICKING HIS LIPS’
The Senate Judiciary Committee in Oklahoma voted 9-0 to authorise death by nitrogen hypoxia as a backup method if drugs administered during lethal injection become unavailable pending a US Supreme Court inquiry.
The court is reviewing the lethal injection method after Lockett died from cardiac arrest, 43 minutes into an execution that should’ve been immediate.
Lockett, 38, was convicted of kidnapping, beating, raping, shooting and burying alive a 19-year-old woman and sentenced to death. His execution was supposed to be simple but turned into a nightmare for the inmate, those administering the drugs and the state’s politicians.
At 6.23pm on April 29, 2014, Lockett was administered with a sedative. It took 10 minutes for doctors to declare him unconscious. He wasn’t.
Doctors tried to administer three lethal drugs but 20 minutes into the execution the prisoner was still not dead. Lockett was lifting his head and writhing on the bed. The execution was called off before Lockett died at 7.06pm from a heart attack. Autopsy results showed Lockett’s vein had collapsed and the drugs had absorbed into his tissue.
Reporter Bailey Elise McBride witnessed the execution and said Lockett was “conscious and blinking, licking his lips even after the process began”. She said Lockett was unconscious at 6.33pm and “began to nod, mumble, move body” at 6.34pm.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH LETHAL INJECTION?
The execution of Lockett was controversial before it started. He and fellow prisoner Charles Warner were to be executed in the state’s first double execution in 80 years. Not only that, they were to be the first people executed using the state’s new three-drug method.
The Supreme Court inquiry is looking into whether the sedative midazolam properly renders an inmate unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered. In Lockett’s case, it clearly did not.
Officials in Oklahoma have conceded that midazolam, used in the emergency management of seizures, is not the most effective drug for sedation. The problem is that more effective drugs are unavailable.
If lethal injection is found to be unconstitutional, Oklahoma would resort to the use of the electric chair. A third option would be the firing squad. The building of a gas chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary would cost taxpayers $300,000 according to Huffington Post and become the second option in place of the electric chair.
Other states are considering their options, too. Tennessee passed a law last year to bring back the electric chair if lethal drugs are ruled out. Utah is considering bringing back the firing squad, as is Wyoming, passed legislation in January to do just that.
A total of 35 death row inmates were executed in seven US states in 2014, all by lethal injection.
http://www.news.com.au/world/north-...mber-in-oklahoma/story-fnh81jut-1227222489062