OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — It took John Grant nearly 20 minutes to die on Thursday.
It was the first execution in the state of Oklahoma in nearly 7 years, after two botched executions and one failed attempt shut the death chamber down for years.
Media witnesses to the execution, including Fox 25's Dan Snyder, saw Grant convulse more than 2 dozen times and vomit after being given the controversial drug Midazolam.
People from across the nation are reacting to the news of Grant's death.
Anti-death penalty proponents and religious figures were the first to offer their thoughts on what transpired in McAlester on Thursday.
"The unnecessary rush to restart executions in Oklahoma by the Governor and Attorney General is concerning and disappointing," said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley with the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. "There are other ways to administer just punishment without resorting to lethal measures."
"Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol amounts to torture and human experimentation," said Sister Helen Prejean, a long-time advocate against the death penalty. "In almost 40 years working against the death penalty, I have never heard of a person vomiting while being executed."
Sister Helen Prejean also asked what it would take for the death penalty to end in Oklahoma.
"Hearing that John Grant experienced incredible pain and suffering before death," said Jess Eddy, a vocal activist in Oklahoma City, on Twitter. "Another botched execution by this bloodthirsty AG and DOC."
Dale Baich, the attorney representing death row inmates in a federal case against the state's execution protocol and use of Midazolam, released a statement after the execution:
"Based on the reporting of the eyewitnesses to the execution, for the third time in a row, Oklahoma’s execution protocol did not work as it was designed to. This is why the Tenth Circuit stayed John Grant’s execution and this is why the U.S. Supreme Court should not have lifted the stay. There should be no more executions in Oklahoma until we go to trial in February to address the state’s problematic lethal injection protocol."
"We keep having problems with executions here," said Abraham Bonowitz, the Director of Death Penalty Action. "The whole idea that Oklahoma can't seem to get it right, you know, should be a wake up call."
Oklahoma Gubernatorial candidate Joy Hofmeister also chimed in after the execution:
“This latest example of a botched execution should give all Oklahomans serious concerns about the State’s ability to properly administer the death penalty. In 2016, 66% of Oklahomans voted to uphold the death penalty as the highest form of punishment for the most egregious crimes, and it is the governor’s job to ensure executions are carried out appropriately. After reviewing eyewitness reports from the death chamber, it is clear the governor has failed to do that. Governor Stitt should immediately suspend further executions until he can guarantee the people of Oklahoma that his administration can properly carry out the sentence.”
Source: weartv.com, Colleen Wilson, October 30, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
