Autopsy reveals Oklahoma used wrong drug for execution of Charles Warner in January

Charles Warner

An autopsy shows that Oklahoma used the wrong drug when it executed an inmate in January.

The Oklahoman reported Thursday that corrections officials used potassium acetate -- not potassium chloride, as required under the state's protocol -- to execute Charles Frederick Warner.

Last week, Gov. Mary Fallin issued a last-minute stay of execution for inmate Richard Glossip after officials discovered that potassium acetate had been delivered.

The autopsy says the items used in Warner's execution included 12 empty vials labeled "single dose Potassium Acetate Injection."

Potassium chloride, which stops the heart, is the final drug in the state's protocol.

After receiving the first drug in the series, midazolam, Warner said, "My body is on fire," but showed no other signs of distress and was pronounced dead after 18 minutes.

Source: kjrh.com, October 8, 2015

Autopsy: Oklahoma Used The Wrong Drug To Execute Charles Warner

Corrections officials in Oklahoma used the wrong drug to execute Charles Warner back in January.

The revelation was included in Warner's autopsy report, which was just made public by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. According to the report, officials used potassium acetate - not potassium chloride, as state protocol calls for - to stop Warner's heart.

Warner, 47, had been scheduled to die on the same night as Clayton D. Lockett. If you remember, Lockett's 2014 execution was also botched. A report issued after his death, found that a phlebotomist misplaced the IV line intended to deliver the lethal cocktail of drugs directly into Lockett's bloodstream. Instead, the cocktail was delivered to the surrounding tissue and Lockett eventually died of a heart attack.

According to The Oklahoman, which first reported on Warner's autopsy report, explains:

"The drug vials and syringes used in Warner's execution were submitted to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner after his death. 2 of the syringes were labeled with white tape '120 mEq Potassium Chloride,' his autopsy report shows.

"However, the 12 empty vials used to fill the syringes are labeled '20mL single dose Potassium Acetate Injection, USP 40 mEq\2mEq\mL,' the autopsy report shows."

Back in September, Gov. Mary Fallin stopped the execution of Richard Glossip, saying that the state had received potassium acetate rather than potassium chloride.

Following that stay, Robert Patton, Oklahoma's prisons director, told reporters that the state's drug provider told them that the 2 drugs were interchangeable. Medical professionals say they are 2 different drugs.

In a statement, Fallin said she had not been made aware that the 2 drugs may have been switched during the Warner execution until she was told the wrong drugs were procured for the the Glossip execution.

"The attorney general's office is conducting an inquiry into the Warner execution and I am fully supportive of this inquiry," she said. "It is imperative that the attorney general obtain the information he needs to make sure justice is served competently and fairly."

Fallin said that until the state has "complete confidence in the system" she will delay any scheduled executions.

Oklahoma's death chamber

Glossip's attorney, Dale Baich, said in a statement that Oklahoma cannot be trusted to get this procedure right.

"The State's disclosure that it used potassium acetate instead of potassium chloride during the execution of Charles Warner yet again raises serious questions about the ability of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to carry out executions," Baich said. "The execution logs for Charles Warner say that he was administered potassium chloride, but now the State says potassium acetate was used. We will explore this in detail through the discovery process in the federal litigation."

According to the AP, Oklahoma's execution protocol does allow for some wiggle room in the kind of drugs used in executions.

"The protocols include dosage guidelines for single-drug lethal injections of pentobarbital or sodium pentothal, along with dosages for a 3-drug protocol of midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride," the AP reported. "The protocols also allow for rocuronium or pancuronium bromide to be substituted for the 2nd drug. The protocols do not list an alternate for potassium chloride, which is the 3rd drug used."

Of course, this case again points to the issues surrounding how and where states are getting their execution drugs. Oklahoma and other states have struggled to adjust to new combinations of execution drugs after manufacturers, under pressure from critics of capital punishment, ceased providing states with drugs they had long used.

States have turned to so-called compounding pharmacies for new drug combination that the states and the pharmacies may know little about.

Source: NPR.org, October 8, 20125

Related articles:

Oklahoma executes Charles Warner, January 16, 2015
Oklahoma: Richard Glossip gets 37-day stay of execution, September 30, 2015
Behind the Walls: Oklahoma Death Chamber - 360° Panoramas, NewsOK, DE. 2011

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

Faith Leaders, Advocates Plan Protests Against Firms Tied to Idaho Execution Chamber Project

BOISE, Idaho — Faith leaders, community advocates and relatives of a person executed by firing squad are joining national advocacy groups to protest firms involved in constructing Idaho’s execution chamber, as states increasingly turn to alternative methods amid lethal injection drug shortages. Due to the refusal of pharmaceutical companies, especially in the past decade, many states have had to find alternative methods because of extensive shortages of lethal injection drugs. Further, this has led the state of Idaho to pass legislation authorizing execution by firing squad, which is one of the most aggressive among alternative methods.

Israel passes death penalty law for terrorists convicted of deadly attacks

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament on Monday passed a law approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, a measure that has been harshly condemned by the international community and rights groups as discriminatory and inhumane. The passage of the bill marked the culmination of a years-long drive by the far-right to escalate punishment for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offenses against Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the Knesset to vote for the bill in person. The law makes the death penalty — by hanging — the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of nationalistic killings. It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges — language that legal experts say effectively confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens.

Pentobarbital Sodium Is Used to End Suffering — and Also to Execute People. The Debate Is Getting Louder.

In a prison in Arizona, a tiny vial is kept in a refrigerator. Or there was—the precise state of what’s inside is still up for debate. The contents may have expired, according to a retired judge looking into the state’s execution procedures. They would not expire, according to prison officials. This could not be independently verified by anyone outside the prison. Pentobarbital sodium is the drug in question, and the fact that its storage conditions in a correctional facility are now the focus of legal investigation indicates how far this specific compound has deviated from its intended use.

Sonia Sotomayor Warns That Texas May Execute an Innocent Man

Law is, as legal scholars and commentators have long recognized , both a refuge for those seeking to escape abuses of power and a trap in which their claims of justice get lost in a maze of statutory intricacies. Nowhere has this been more clearly on display than in the world of capital punishment. Over the span of half a century, the Supreme Court has gone from championing the rights of capital defendants and death row inmates to deflecting and denying their pursuit of justice. Where once the court carefully scrutinized procedures used in death cases, insisting that they had to conform to the dictates of so-called super due process , today it has made the due process accorded in those cases not super at all .

Florida Supreme Court halts execution of police officer convicted of raping, murdering girl

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — The execution of a former Florida police officer convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl was temporarily halted Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court. The court issued a stay in execution for 68-year-old James Aren Duckett, who was scheduled to receive a three-drug injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Duckett was sentenced to death in 1988 after being convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery.

Saudi Arabia executes man convicted on terrorism-related charges

A man convicted on terrorism-related charges has been executed in Saudi Arabia following a final court ruling, according to an official statement from the Interior Ministry and reporting patterns consistent with international news agencies. The Interior Ministry said the individual, identified as Saoud bin Muhammad bin Ali al-Faraj, was convicted of multiple offenses including alleged affiliation with a foreign-linked terrorist organization, targeting security personnel, supporting and financing terrorist activities, harboring suspects, manufacturing explosives, and illegal possession of weapons.The case was initially investigated by security authorities before being referred to the judiciary.

Once Nevada’s youngest on death row, double murderer paroled as victims’ family claims silence from state

LAS VEGAS — A man who once stood as the youngest person on Nevada’s death row has officially transitioned from a life behind bars to a life under supervision, following his release from High Desert State Prison last month. Edward Michael Domingues, 49, was released on parole on Feb. 13, 2026. His freedom marks the end of 32 consecutive years of incarceration for the 1993 murders of Arjin Chanel Pechpho and her 4-year-old son, Jonathan Smith. Since his release, the case has ignited a renewed debate over Nevada’s victim notification systems. Tawin Eshelman, the mother and grandmother of the victims, confirmed that the family was never formally notified of the parole hearing that led to Domingues' freedom.

Iranian Gay Activist: "They Forced Me to Watch Executions So I Would Know How Mine Would Be"

Iranian LGBT activist now living as a refugee in Spain. He was sentenced to death by the ayatollah regime for being homosexual and for his support campaign for the community. "The enemy was already at home," he says about the current war In 11 countries around the world, homosexuality is punishable by death - it is criminalized in almost 70 countries. One of them is the Islamic Republic of Iran, from where Ramtin Zigorat (Tabriz, 1988) managed to escape after avoiding a death sentence and enduring the worst tortures. He has been living as a refugee in Spain for six and a half years. Question . His life, his testimony, can help us better understand what the Iranian Islamist regime is. I believe that until adolescence, you did not fully understand that you were homosexual.

Arizona | Death Row Inmate Challenges Execution Warrant, Citing 2025 Cyberattack and Protocol Failures

Leroy Dean McGill was sentenced to death for a 2002 gasoline attack in North Phoenix against a couple, Charles Perez and Nova Banta. PHOENIX — Attorneys for Arizona death row inmate Leroy Dean McGill have formally challenged the state’s attempt to secure an execution warrant, citing a catastrophic 2025 cyberattack and a long history of troubled lethal injection protocols. The challenge comes as Arizona seeks to resume capital punishment following a year-long hiatus. If the Arizona Supreme Court grants the state’s request, McGill would become the first person executed in the state since 2024.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog