Clayton Lockett Found Dead
Jerry Massie, a spokesman for Oklahoma's corrections department, explained to the group of witnesses permitted to watch the procedure that the first drug to be used under the state's new lethal injection protocol would take some time to have its desired effect.
In the event, the warning rang hollow. It would be a full 43 minutes after the drug was administered before Lockett died and only after he had thrashed on the gurney, writhing and groaning – as it became clear that the procedure had been botched. The grim scenes were the culmination of an unprecedented legal and political dispute in Oklahoma that has propelled the state into a nationwide tussle over the growing secrecy surrounding the drugs used by states to kill prisoners. The governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, had even publicly challenged the authority of a panel of judges who temporarily put a halt to the execution, in order to consider the inmates' challenges over the constitutionality of the secrecy. The court backed down, and denied the prisoners' claims. Then, in a move that attracted international attention, the state scheduled the two executions on the same night, two hours apart, in its first double execution since 1937.
It was a decision that backfired badly. The execution of Lockett was scheduled for 6pm. A group of 12 selected media witnesses, including the Guardian, were shuttled to the white-walled Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester from a nearby visitor's building. We waited in the prison law library, as inmates banged on their cells and hollered to mark the event. When officials were ready, we were taken to a viewing area, where we sat in brown metal chairs on a blue-grey carpet against the back wall. Lawyers and state officials sat in front of us. The family of Lockett's victim were in separate viewing room. The process began at 6.23pm, but Lockett as we had been warned did not appear immediately to fall unconscious. Beneath a white sheet pulled to his neck, the restrained prisoner blinked and pursed his lips. At first he looked straight ahead, but after four minutes, he turned towards the witness area. By 6.30pm, his eyes were closed and his mouth slightly open, but when an official stood over him to check, it was clear something was wrong. Mr. Lockett is not unconscious, Trammell said.
At 6.33pm, Lockett was checked again and declared to be sedated. But then, during the following minutes, Lockett lurched forward against his restraints, writhing and attempting to speak. He strained and struggled violently, his body twisting, and his head reaching up from the gurney. Sixteen minutes after the execution began, Lockett said Man, and Trammell decreed the blinds be lowered. Before they fell, Lockett's right arm was checked.
Then, in a gesture that seemed to echo Oklahoma’s fierce commitment to secrecy in the way it carries out lethal injections, the curtains were drawn over the execution chamber, obscuring the gruesome spectacle from public view. Officials picked up prison phones and left the room. After a few minutes, the corrections department director, Robert Patton, came to the viewing room. We’ve had a vein failure in which the chemicals did not make it into the offender, he told the assembled group, which included lawyers for the condemned prisoner, as well as 12 journalists.
Jerry Massie, a spokesman for Oklahoma's corrections department, explained to the group of witnesses permitted to watch the procedure that the first drug to be used under the state's new lethal injection protocol would take some time to have its desired effect.
It was a decision that backfired badly. The execution of Lockett was scheduled for 6pm. A group of 12 selected media witnesses, including the Guardian, were shuttled to the white-walled Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester from a nearby visitor's building. We waited in the prison law library, as inmates banged on their cells and hollered to mark the event. When officials were ready, we were taken to a viewing area, where we sat in brown metal chairs on a blue-grey carpet against the back wall. Lawyers and state officials sat in front of us. The family of Lockett's victim were in separate viewing room. The process began at 6.23pm, but Lockett as we had been warned did not appear immediately to fall unconscious. Beneath a white sheet pulled to his neck, the restrained prisoner blinked and pursed his lips. At first he looked straight ahead, but after four minutes, he turned towards the witness area. By 6.30pm, his eyes were closed and his mouth slightly open, but when an official stood over him to check, it was clear something was wrong. Mr. Lockett is not unconscious, Trammell said.
At 6.33pm, Lockett was checked again and declared to be sedated. But then, during the following minutes, Lockett lurched forward against his restraints, writhing and attempting to speak. He strained and struggled violently, his body twisting, and his head reaching up from the gurney. Sixteen minutes after the execution began, Lockett said Man, and Trammell decreed the blinds be lowered. Before they fell, Lockett's right arm was checked.
Then, in a gesture that seemed to echo Oklahoma’s fierce commitment to secrecy in the way it carries out lethal injections, the curtains were drawn over the execution chamber, obscuring the gruesome spectacle from public view. Officials picked up prison phones and left the room. After a few minutes, the corrections department director, Robert Patton, came to the viewing room. We’ve had a vein failure in which the chemicals did not make it into the offender, he told the assembled group, which included lawyers for the condemned prisoner, as well as 12 journalists.