When Oklahoma scheduled a double execution in one day, I knew it was about grand-standing. Rootin’, tootin’ governor Mary Fallin expected to be center-stage that day with all media eyes on her state – well, mainly on her.
The media was definitely there, but the first execution went horribly wrong. The second execution was delayed indefinitely, pending an investigation of the state’s execution protocol.
Oklahoma is having the same problem as Missouri and other death penalty states in getting safe drugs for lethal injections and finding trained people to carry out the procedure.
These states have resorted to making the whole spectacle a secret. It’s a secret as to who’s administering the drug. It’s a secret how they get the drugs. What drugs are used is a secret.
Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner were scheduled for Oklahoma’s first double execution in 80 years. After Lockett’s arm veins could not be found to inject the drugs, it was injected in his femoral artery (groin), a procedure that’s tricky even for skilled and trained medical personnel. As far as we know, the injection could have been done by an inmate.
The first drug administered should have caused unconsciousness. Lockett writhed in pain, clenched his teeth and tried to get off the gurney. He even spoke. The curtains were quickly drawn to prevent witnesses from seeing the next steps. Prison officials stopped the execution.
In the aftermath, responding to a flurry of questions, prison officials claimed Lockett’s vein “exploded,” causing the drug to go into his soft tissue. Initially there was a claim that after the execution was halted, attempts were made to resuscitate the condemned man.
Officials have since backed off that claim, but with the curtain closed, we may never know what happened in the frantic 43 minutes before Lockett was declared dead.
I have people asking me why we should be concerned about what pain these killers endure. After all, they showed no concern for their victims.
There are a few reasons.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws, rules and regulations. These boundaries are set up to benefit the majority of citizens and for the greater good; we must fight to see that they are fairly and evenly applied and not motivated by emotions or the interests of a few. That’s why lynching was outlawed.
Lethal injection as a procedure was sold to the public as being painless, safe and within the legal limits of the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
There have been nearly 150 people exonerated from death row to date. These are the lucky ones whose cases were taken up by groups or committed attorneys. Innocence advocates believe there are many more. We also know that states have killed innocent people.
Death penalty opponents like me are not trying to shield vicious killers. We do want justice for victims and their families. But we also want to be humane about all life. The U.S. has not yet joined the rest of the civilized world that has turned its back on executions as an outdated form of punishment..
President Obama called the botched Oklahoma “deeply troubling.” So is this country’s obsession with the death penalty.
