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| Diagram of Clayton Lockett's 2nd autopsy |
On the afternoon of April 29, 2014, a vehicle arrived in the courtyard of the prison in McAlester, Oklahoma to pick up Clayton Lockett. The driver parked in the shadow of the white prison walls. His wait, it turned out, would be longer than anticipated. The vehicle was a hearse.
Behind the wall, at 4:40 p.m., prison guards removed Clayton Lockett's handcuffs and leg irons and forced him to get undressed so that he could take a shower. This is stipulated by the "Procedures for the Execution of Offenders Sentenced to Death." The shower is adjacent to the execution chamber: The purpose of the procedure is to ensure that the execution is clean -- in all respects.
Lockett, wearing scrubs and tennis shoes, was taken into the execution chamber at 5:20 p.m. The five men on the "strap-down team" restrained him to the gurney with seven black straps. He could only move his head at this point. When he turned it to the right, he could see a large, round clock: It was 5:26 p.m. His execution was scheduled to begin in 34 minutes.
Lockett, 38, had been on death row for 13 years. He didn't want to die, at least not in the way the 25-page protocol -- an attempt to provide a bureaucratic framework for dying -- required.
When Locket was picked up for his physical examination 12 hours earlier, at 5:06 a.m., he tried to hide under his blanket. Prison officials used a stun gun to force him to comply. In the medical department, Lockett was X-rayed, again according to a precise protocol, which states that "beginning at the head [the prisoner is to be] X-rayed downward of the body. The X-rays will be taken prior to eating breakfast." The protocol doesn't explain why a person who is to be put to death in a few hours should be X-rayed.
Then Lockett's veins were examined. Officials sometimes have trouble finding a vein, especially when the condemned prisoners are overweight or IV drug users, but Lockett didn't take any drugs, was muscular and exercised daily. On this morning, the examination results stated that his veins were in good condition and readily accessible.
At 5:27 p.m., a paramedic and a doctor entered the execution chamber. Thus began one of the most gruesome executions in the history of the United States.
The paramedic's job was to insert a needle, which would be used to inject the lethal drugs into Lockett's body. He punctured the left arm with a hollow needle, but he forgot to use a bandage to keep the needle in place. By the time the bandage was brought into the room, the site was no longer usable. The paramedic tried to insert the needle at two other locations on Lockett's arm, but he failed both times. He switched to the right arm and tried three locations there. Then he removed the prisoner's tennis shoes and tried to insert the IV into his foot.
The doctor approached the gurney and tried to insert the needle into Lockett's jugular before trying a subclavian vein near his collarbone. While the two men were poking around his body, Lockett heard a drumming noise echoing through death row, as the inmates banged on their cell doors for five minutes -- a ritual intended as a final farewell to the condemned man.
Only a few cells away, Charles Warner was also waiting for his execution. He had said goodbye to his family and eaten his final meal. He was appointed to die at 8 p.m., on the same gurney where Lockett was now lying. But the schedule proved difficult to adhere to.
More than 10 attempts to place an IV had already failed by the time the doctor and the paramedic tried to insert it in Lockett's right groin. They cut open his scrubs and underwear, and then used a scalpel to cut into the flesh, because the veins in the groin are deep beneath the surface.
Source: Spiegel Online, Markus Feldenkirchen, September 12, 2014