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| Oklahoma Death Chamber |
Logs pertaining to the botched execution of an inmate were requested over 3 months ago.
Logs from the final hours before Clayton Lockett's botched execution still haven't been released by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, more than 3 months after initially requested by the Tulsa World.
Officials at DOC have declined to say when the logs or other records requested by the World will be released. The agency keeps detailed logs during every execution, documenting the timeline of what occurred during the days leading up to the execution and on the day of the execution.
Oklahoma's execution protocol states that beginning 7 days before an execution, a log will be maintained to "provide a detailed chronological history of every aspect of the execution proceedings."
The World requested the logs and other records following Lockett's April 29 execution, which took 43 minutes and was halted shortly before he died. Key events surrounding the execution were omitted from an earlier timeline released by DOC on May 1, including the medical qualifications of personnel who inserted the inmate's IV and what happened between the time when the execution was halted and Lockett died.
Results of an investigation by the Department of Public Safety into circumstances of the execution have not yet been released.
George Brown, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said all interviews have been completed, and the agency is waiting on Lockett's autopsy to be completed. Brown said DPS interviewed more than 100 people in its investigation.
Gov. Mary Fallin ordered an investigation into Lockett's death and an independent autopsy by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office following the execution. Though officials said the autopsy would take about 8 to 12 weeks to complete, more than 3 months have passed since Fallin requested it.
Officials with the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office have not responded to calls from the World seeking information on the case.
Fallin and the Department of Public Safety also have not released records requested by the World related to the execution.
Lockett's execution was halted after he spent 3 minutes writhing, mumbling and trying to rise from the gurney. Prison officials closed a blind in the death chamber, preventing witnesses from seeing how Lockett died.
Preliminary results of an autopsy sought by attorneys for death-row inmates found evidence that Lockett's IV was improperly inserted. Lockett was executed with a 3-drug combination: midazolam, a paralyzing drug called vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
The state has scheduled inmate Charles Warner's execution for Nov. 13. Warner's execution was to occur 2 hours after Lockett's but was stayed.
Lockett was sentenced to die for killing Stephanie Neiman, 19, of Perry. He and 2 accomplices abducted Neiman and 3 others, shot Neiman and buried her alive beside a dirt road in Noble County.
Warner was convicted in the rape and murder of his roommate's infant daughter in 1997.
Executions for 2 other death-row inmates have been scheduled after Warner's, despite a pending federal lawsuit by 21 death-row inmates challenging the state's death-penalty procedures. The lawsuit alleges the state's protocol violates the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, allowing untrained people using drugs from secret sources to carry out executions.
Source: Tulsa World, August 17, 2014
