Mcalester, Okla. — (KFOR and NBC News) The Oklahoma Department Of Corrections has postponed the execution of death row inmate Charles Warner following Tuesday’s botched execution of inmate Clayton Lockett.
D.O.C. Director Robert Patton said Lockett received his first injection at 6:23 p.m.
Seven minutes later, the other drugs were injected into his body.
However, Lockett maintained consciousness and witnesses say he began slowly convulsing.
Minutes later, a doctor in the room decided to stop the execution after a “vein line had blown” in Lockett, according to Patton.
At 7:06 p.m., 43 minutes after his first injection, Lockett suffered a heart attack and died inside the execution room.
Critics blame the botched execution of condemned killer Clayton Lockett on a combination of lethal injections that’d never been tried before.
The three injections given to Locklett failed to kill him, forcing prison officials to halt the execution. He died about 30 minutes later of a massive heart attack.
“He was grimacing, clinching his jaw, his body was shaking,” said execution witness Ziva Branstetter of the Tulsa World Enterprise. “Several times his entire head and shoulders lifted up off the gurney as if he was literally trying to get up.”
Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley said the unprecedented execution underscores the brutality of the death penalty and urged Oklahomans to weigh carefully the demands of justice and mercy.
He said, The execution of Clayton Lockett really highlights the brutality of the death penalty and I hope it leads us to consider whether we should adopt a moratorium on the death penalty or even abolish it altogether.
The Archbishop said the way we treat criminals says a lot about our society.
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