The difficult spectacle has become a spectacle of horror: The newspapers Time and The Garden report that the state of Oklahoma has decided to halt the execution process following a serious incident that occurred during it early this morning [Wednesday].
Clayton Lockett, a convicted felon with a history of violent crimes, was sentenced to death in Oklahoma in 2000 for first-degree murder. The sentencing was set for April 29, which is today [Wednesday]. Later that evening, Charles Warner, another murderer, was scheduled to receive a similar sentence.
But the execution was preceded by a debate and struggle over the type of drug used to execute the prisoners. The reason: In the United States, it is customary to carry out the death penalty by lethal injection. It's just that the materials for the injection come from Europe, and the manufacturers of the materials are unwilling to be partners in the globally controversial execution process.
The shortage of materials led the authorities to order a new compound of materials from American pharmacists to be tested for the first time on the two defendants.
But then everything went wrong.
The prisoner was injected with the poison and writhed in pain for many minutes. His veins burst and he cried out 'God' until he had a heart attack and died. In total, the execution lasted 43 minutes.
Clayton's lawyer said that 'the spectacle was difficult to watch. Everything went wrong from beginning to end.' The prisoner's image was so severe that the guards drew the curtains to block out the eyewitnesses who were watching the horrific event.
Meanwhile, the governor's office has decided to postpone the execution of the second defendant, Charles Warner.
Under American law, defendants do not have the right to receive information about the ingredients that will make up the lethal dose of poison. Warner's lawyer, Madeline Cohen, claims that the lack of transparency about the type of drug and the cocktail led to the fatal outcome.
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