For death penalty advocates, Oklahoma was featuring a type of macabre double header tonight: two executions to be held within hours of each other. That objective however failed in a most disturbing possible way after the first execution of Clayton Lockett left him in obvious agony for over 25 minutes. He eventually died from a heart attack and the second execution was postponed.
Witnesses reported that Lockett could be seen kicking and lifting his head on the gurney. After sixteen minutes, the prison officials closed the blinds and barred witnesses. Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton then called a halt to the execution and issued a 14-day stay for the execution of Charles Warner. Patton described the problem as a “vein failure”
Lockett was sentenced to death for killing a woman during a home invasion burglary in 1999 while Warner (right) was sentenced to death for raping and murdering an 11-month old girl in 1997.
Notably, the execution tonight used a new combination of drugs after a shortage in lethal injection drugs arose from an international campaign. They gave Lockett the sedative midazolam which was to be followed by the muscle relaxant vecuronium bromide to stop breathing and then potassium chloride to stop the heart.
The botched execution will only magnify concerns that there remain too many unknowns about lethal injection and that it constitutes a cruel punishment.
Notably, this incident comes a day after the release of a new report showing over four percent of death row inmates are likely innocent. The calculation of one in 25 death row being innocent in the study contradicts the earlier statistical data offered by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in a concurring opinion in 2007 when he said that the error rate was 0.027 percent “or, to put it another way, a success rate of 99.973 percent.”
The execution and the study raise two of the main objections over the death penalty: that it is cruel and that the criminal justice system still produces false convictions. However, 55 percent of people polled reportedly still support the death penalty while a substantial percentage of 39 percent now opposes it. This is clearly going to be a debate that will continue to rage, particularly after the horrific scene tonight in Oklahoma.
Source: CNN
okay now the darn spam monster ate my first post. This is really annoying.
No form of death penalty is going to be 100% painless or perfectly administered. There are many who call the act itself inhumane.
Therefore, in my opinion there should be no death penalty. Life without parole in an isolated prison can be painful enough. It also gives the prisoner time to think and repent, for the rest of his/her life, about past transgressions.
Brings back memories of “Sparky” the dysfunctional electric chair.
Here’s a Death house walk through…State of Ohio.
Issac, have you ever shot anyone? Up close? It is not neat and clean. Beyond someone having to clean the mess up there is the whole business of what actually happened to the person that pulled the trigger. If they are OK after that they are not someone I would care to share a community with.
The biggest problem with protesting the death penalty is that many of the people who get it are not nice people. In too many cases they are not guilty of the crime they are to be executed for but they have a history that makes them unsympathetic. The use of DNA testing to review past sentences has done a great job of highlighting the injustice system we live under.But far too many people turn a blind eye to the evidence in their lust for revenge, even if wrongly targeted.
Well, I’m generally against the death penalty. But the one that raped and killed the 11 month old, I do take exception and think the prison population should have take care of him in prison due process.
Funny in a macabre sort of way. As I read these comments most are trying to determine a most ‘humane’ way to kill innocent people. No mention of those who are sent to death over mental incompetence, human error, ineffectiveness of counsel or simple bloodlust. It’s somewhat surreal to see people more incensed about an innocent dog being killed by trigger happy cops than they are about innocent people being sent to a planned, barbaric death.
Regarding the death penalty, Americans can proudly proclaim that they are in a league of countries that include Uganda, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, China and Syria. Nice company to keep. Even the ‘Evil Empire’ has in practice ended executions. http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/abolitionist-and-retentionist-countries
It is certainly macabre. The cases are an odd read on what is an appropriate level of pain in an execution. The electric chair for example passed muster as did firing squads in prior opinions. It is a measure of our society however that we continue to seek the most humane method. While there are ample reasons to oppose the death penalty, we have tried to adopt the least painful option for executions. The question is where to draw the line of course on the acceptable level of pain.
Illinois found that 11% of death row inmates were innocent, that is the reason the Governor stopped them.
They had this controversy before, and they had some great examples in favor of it.
But unless your 100% sure, it’s a hard thing to take back…..
Some one has to flip the switch, pull the lever, or make the move that executes the individual. Why is the system made so convoluted. It would be more humane, simpler, and more cost effective if the individual simply received a shot in the back of the brain. The death would be immediate. There would be no theatre leading up to the event, theatre that can only be viewed as sick.
The mafia know how to do this. The recipient enters a room and is shot in the back of the head. The Soviets did it this way. There is no ceremony. The event does not merit a ceremony. If we wish to eradicate those that are so broken as to be a threat to society and who have done such heinous crimes that we determine they should forfeit their lives, then why not simply wax the mf and stop with all the voodoo, hooha, semblance of ‘humane treatment’. Kill them quickly and painlessly.
“Enhanced interrogation …”
Darren, that’s an interesting suggestion. I’m familiar with the concept of nitrogen narcosis from scuba diving. The driver develops a sense of wellbeing, decides he can easily handle 300 feet, slips into unconsciousness from nitrogen saturation and drowns.
I don’t understand why the method of capital punishment is not Nitrogen Asphyxiation. It is fairly quick for the condemned to go under and there is no suffocation throes as is with some bothched lethan injections and gas chambers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_asphyxiation
To me this would be a good choice, should it be needed.
Don,
I don’t think that there is a prosecutor who is not thinking of getting reelected or elected to a higher position. Your example of how similar death penalty cases are treated is another reason why the death penalty is at least cruel punishment, IMO.
Don de Drain:
Well said.
While I don’t like the death penalty, I don’t think it is per se unconstitutional. But my observation is that the death penalty is not administered in a consistent manner nor is it administered fairly in all cases. Thus, as a matter of policy, it should not be an option. I base my opinion upon personal observation. My firm represented a death row inmate in state and federal habeas proceedings where a key issue in the case was ineffective assistance of counsel. Our client was ultimately executed after losing 2-1 at the court of appeals. En banc review was denied. Certiorari was denied. After our client was executed, a similarly situated death row inmate, who had been represented by the same attorney as our client at both the trial and penalty phase, was spared from being executed, based on a 5-4 Supreme Court decision, based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
The botched execution was most unfortunate, I can appreciate the fact that the families and friends of murder victims are so upset that they seek vengeance in the form of a death penalty. Perhaps I might feel that way if I were in their shoes. But a decision on whether to impose the death penalty should not be based on emotion. Nor should a decision to seek the death penalty be placed in the hands of prosecutors whose primary concern is winning their next election.
“…error rate was 0.027 percent “or, to put it another way, a success rate of 99.973 percent.” ”
.
“Oh well, innocent people have been killed,” is not an acceptable response. That is a 100% failure!
Since much of the support for the death penalty is predicated upon group anger and vengeance, there will likely be many people who will opine that 20 minutes of terminal agony was insufficient.
Only in America would we have difficulty with an execution. Their must be thousands of anesthesiologist in the state. I have had a few operations and I was out in no time and that could have been turned into an OD easyly. If we do this, lets do it right the first time. Their is no excuse for this.
Another graphic example of why the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. I am no longer surprised that Scalia is caught “fibbing” about the death penalty or any issue.