Oklahoma prisons lawyer says he felt pressured

Source: Associated Press

Oklahoma prisons lawyer says he felt pressured
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press | December 18, 2014 | Updated: December 18, 2014 4:17pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A longtime lawyer for Oklahoma's prison system said Thursday that he felt pressured by the governor's and attorney general's offices to make sure executions last spring happened on schedule, even though the state didn't have the drugs yet to carry them out.

Oklahoma adopted a new protocol before executing Clayton Lockett last April. After the execution team administered the sedative midazolam and two other drugs intended to stop his breathing and his heart, Lockett mumbled and struggled on a gurney before dying.

Lockett's 43-minute execution prompted the state to impose a moratorium, which is set to end Jan. 15. A federal judge this week is considering whether death row inmates have a valid complaint that the state's Corrections Department is essentially experimenting on them by using untested drugs or drug combinations during executions.

Lockett's execution was initially scheduled for March 20, but three days before then the state attorney general's office said Oklahoma didn't have sufficient drugs on hand and couldn't meet the criteria to switch to electrocution or a firing squad.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Inmates-State-s-lethal-injection-unconstitutional-5964783.php