Corrections Department Director Scott Crow acknowledged at a news conference Friday that John Marion Grant had access to food throughout the day but said "at this point, no, we are not planning on any new changes."
An attorney for death row inmates said what happened was predictable.
“As we have been saying all along, Oklahoma’s execution protocol does not include contingencies for problems that may arise throughout the execution process," said Dale Baich, an assistant federal public defender.
"The Department of Corrections was in complete control of John Grant prior to and during the execution. It is shocking and defies basic common sense that the DOC execution team — that is supposedly trained — allowed a person who was about to be administered sedatives to eat and drink. … Fault lies with the Department of Corrections.”
Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection procedure begins with the sedative, midazolam, which has been described by attorneys for the state as inducing general anesthesia.
It is generally known that anyone undergoing general anesthesia should not eat ahead of time to avoid complications. Doctors regularly advise surgery patients not to eat after midnight in the hours before a procedure.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists recommends patients begin fasting at least six hours before a procedure and abstain from drinking even water two hours before.
The state's death penalty protocol restricts how long an inmate can visit with his attorneys in the final hours, what the inmate can have in the holding cell and how many witnesses can watch the execution. It requires termination of telephone privileges at 9 p.m. the night before.
The only limitation on food is the cost of his traditional last meal — $25.
Grant, 60, was executed for the fatal stabbing of a kitchen worker at a prison in Hominy in 1998. He was pronounced dead at 4:21 p.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
A media witness with The Associated Press reported Grant convulsed about two dozen times before vomiting after the sedative was administered. He convulsed and vomited again after his face was wiped off, the witness, Sean Murphy, said.
The Corrections Department director said at the news conference Friday that Grant "in my opinion started dry heaving prior to actually regurgitating … while on the table." Crow estimated the number of times at less than 10.
"There's some that have indicated it was two dozen. From my vantage point, I didn't see that," Crow said.
"I did confer with the physician and the physician advised that it is not uncommon for regurgitation to occur when someone is undergoing the process of sedation," he also said.
Crow agreed the regurgitation was not pleasant to watch. But he said he did not believe it was inhumane because, according to the physician, by then the inmate was sedated.
Grant was given breakfast at 7:10 a.m. Thursday and ate only the eggs, the director said.
Grant declined lunch but did have snacks in his cell throughout the day Thursday, he said.
The director did not specify what the snacks were. Grant had asked for a large pack of Nutter Butter sandwich cookies as part of his last meal Wednesday evening.
Also at issue is whether the vomiting and involuntary movements Thursday were caused by the sedative itself.
Grant and more than 30 other Oklahoma death row inmates have complained in a lawsuit that midazolam doesn't work like it is supposed to. Their attorneys contend its use violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, An Oklahoma City federal judge will rule on the legal challenge after hearing testimony at a trial next year.
The inmates' attorneys have told the judge their experts "will testify that a prisoner executed using the current midazolam protocol will experience excruciating pain and suffering."
They also have told the judge the rapid injection of the highly acidic sedative will almost immediately cause a prisoner's lungs to fill with blood and other fluids, resulting in “intolerable sensations of asphyxiation.”
The execution for Grant was scheduled after he was kicked out of the lawsuit for refusing to pick an alternative method such as the firing squad. It was carried out about two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an execution stay.
Death penalty foes, as well as the New York Post and others in the media, quickly characterized what happened as Oklahoma's latest botched execution. The Corrections Department, though, maintained that the execution was carried out "without complication."
"Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol amounts to torture and human experimentation," tweeted Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun who has long called for the abolition of capital punishment. "In almost 40 years working against the death penalty, I have never heard of a person vomiting while being executed."
The archbishop of Oklahoma City said after the execution that all human life is sacred.
"No matter how serious the crime committed, we do not forfeit the inherent dignity bestowed upon us by our Creator. There are other ways to administer just punishment without resorting to lethal measures," the Most. Rev. Paul S. Coakley said.
Robert Dunham, the executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said, "Oklahoma knew full well that this was well within the realm of possible outcomes in a midazolam execution.
"It didn't care … and the Supreme Court apparently didn't either."
Oklahoma first used midazolam in the 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett, but the procedure went awry when an intravenous line failed.
Robert Patton, the Corrections Department director at the time, called a halt to the procedure after Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and clenched his teeth. Lockett died anyway 43 minutes after the lethal injection began.
Oklahoma next used midazolam in the 2015 execution of baby killer Charles Frederick Warner. “My body is on fire,” Warner said before dying, according to witness accounts. “No one should go through this."
His execution is considered botched because officials later determined the wrong drug, potassium acetate, has been administered to stop his heart.
The state's multicounty grand jury later concluded the wrong drug was used in Warner's execution and almost used in another in 2015 because of a faulty protocol, inexcusable failures by corrections officials and a pharmacist's negligence.
