Oklahoma's death row houses 18 inmates who have exhausted their legal appeals, meaning they're eligible for execution. When — or whether — any of those executions occurs, however, is an open question.
The state hasn't carried out an execution since January 2015 — 4 years ago — and officials have been unable to get ahold of the machinery needed for the state's new execution protocol. In short, this is a mess.
Oklahoma officials announced last year that the state would go away from using three drugs in its executions, and instead would become the first state to use nitrogen gas. The change was driven, largely, by the difficulty in acquiring the necessary drugs — more and more manufacturers, wary of reprisals by anti-death penalty groups, have stopped selling their products if they're to be used in executions.
The same problem has arisen with nitrogen, as The Oklahoman's Nolan Clay reported Sunday.
Potential makers of a gas delivery device, said Department of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh, are “all concerned and afraid of the same thing — every one of them. Retribution, losing their business, protests.”
This move stemmed from Oklahoma's considerable troubles with its former execution practices.
Those came under extreme scrutiny in 2014 with the execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney and wasn't pronounced dead until 43 minutes after the procedure began. A federal appeals court panel later called the execution a “procedural disaster."
A post-Lockett investigation revealed numerous problems, including faulty insertion of the intravenous line and a lack of training by members of the execution team. The state's use of the sedative midazolam in the Lockett execution also drew complaints, and lawsuits by other death row inmates who said the drug could result in an unconstitutional level of pain. The U.S. Supreme Court nixed that argument.
The state had an execution ready to go in September 2015, but it was halted after a doctor discovered that one of the drugs to be used was not part of the state's protocol. That wrong drug had also been used in the January 2015 execution, but the mistake wasn't found until after the fact.
The aborted execution in September 2015 was investigated by a state multicounty grand jury that cited, among other things, egregious failures by correctional officials and a shoddy execution protocol. The grand jury recommended several changes.
Now the state wants to use gas but can't find companies willing to build the machine. Attorney General Mike Hunter suggested the state may have to build one itself — something that surely would result in legal challenges beyond those that will result from using this new method in the first place.
In November 2016, Oklahoma voters showed they want capital punishment when they gave strong approval to a pro-death penalty state question. In early 2019, the state's next execution looks a long, long way off.
Source: The Oklahoman, Editorial, January 30, 2019
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