Botched execution draws fierce criticism from death penalty opponents
- 10 years ago
A botched execution in Oklahoma reignites the death penalty debate.
Inmate Clayton Lockett died more than 40 minutes after receiving a lethal injection.
Tulsa television reporter Tess Maune was in the viewing room.
She said the procedure started at 6:23 and went on longer than it was supposed to.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TESS MAUNE, REPORTER FOR NEWSON6, WHO WITNESSED THE EXECUTION, SAYING:
"And then at 6:38, that's when his body really started convulsing, his upper body shaking pretty dramatically, and that's when he clenched his teeth."
Officials halted Lockett's execution after 13 minutes. They say he later died of an apparent heart attack.
Oklahoma was using a new cocktail of chemicals.
The state Supreme Court had said the state provided enough information about the drugs to allow the execution.
Now critics are lashing out.
Diann Rust-Tierney is the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Inmate Clayton Lockett died more than 40 minutes after receiving a lethal injection.
Tulsa television reporter Tess Maune was in the viewing room.
She said the procedure started at 6:23 and went on longer than it was supposed to.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TESS MAUNE, REPORTER FOR NEWSON6, WHO WITNESSED THE EXECUTION, SAYING:
"And then at 6:38, that's when his body really started convulsing, his upper body shaking pretty dramatically, and that's when he clenched his teeth."
Officials halted Lockett's execution after 13 minutes. They say he later died of an apparent heart attack.
Oklahoma was using a new cocktail of chemicals.
The state Supreme Court had said the state provided enough information about the drugs to allow the execution.
Now critics are lashing out.
Diann Rust-Tierney is the executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.