Oklahoma perfects the botching of executions

On October 28th, Oklahoma carried out its first execution since January 2015. According to media witnesses, John Grant experienced full-body convulsions and vomited on himself multiple times after being injected with Midazolam, the first drug in Oklahoma’s injection protocol.

While this was horrifying, it was not surprising.

Oklahoma has botched every execution it has attempted in the past seven years.

In April 2014, Clayton Lockett tried to get up off the execution gurney after an IV line was set incorrectly. He eventually died, after an excruciating length of time on the execution gurney, of a heart attack.

Charles Warner was executed with a food preservative chemical in January 2015 after the Oklahoma Department of Corrections purchased the wrong drug.

In September 2015, Oklahoma tried to execute Richard Glossip twice with the same incorrect drug. It was only the white hot glare of global attention that made them halt that execution.

And then Oklahoma stopped executing people. The Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission stepped in to examine every aspect of the state's capital punishment system.

Its 272-page report contained 46 recommendations. A few hours after the Commission's report was published, then Oklahoma AG Mike Hunter announced that he'd not be following any of its recommendations. Instead, the state went looking for new ways to kill its citizens, including an experimental use of nitrogen gas.

Finally, Oklahoma gave up on alternative methods and decided to return to the method it new best: its failed lethal injection cocktail. (It should be noted that the Supreme Court played a major role in allowing such failed protocols to be used, with its decision in Glossip v. Gross.)

In response to the latest botched execution, Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections says that it will continue carrying out executions exactly as before. In fact, the DOC said that John Grant’s execution went “in accordance with protocol and without complication.”

This is Orwellian doublespeak. What they mean by "without complication" is that (for once) they used the correct drugs according to the protocol and the end result was John Grant's death. Oklahoma has not only perfected the botching of executions, it has perfected the language to mask their own cruel incompetence.

Hope for Julius Jones

After a years-long fight, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended on Monday that Julius Jones should receive executive clemency and that his death sentence should be commuted to life with the possibility of parole.

The vote was 3-1. Julius’s fate is now in the hands of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who appointed a majority of the pardon board’s members.

Take action for Julius!

🖋️ Julius Jones' fate is in the hands of Gov. Kevin Stitt. Email him today to ask that he follow the recommendations of his own Pardon and Parole Board.

An execution date remains scheduled for November 18th. Meanwhile, Julius sits in a solid concrete death watch cell feet away from the execution chamber where John Grant was killed in a gruesome botched execution last week.

Gov. Stitt should act quickly and end the psychological torture that Julius has already had to endure. It is hard to imagine the torment he must be going through.

Source: Death Penalty Discourse, Sister Helen Prejean, November 5, 2021

🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

William Thompson Faces Execution in Florida Amid Dementia, Terminal Illness Concerns

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an execution warrant for 74-year-old prisoner William “Bill” Thompson less than 24 hours after he was released from the hospital to the hospice wing of the prison. After his attorneys raised serious concerns about his mental competency and deteriorating physical health, Gov. DeSantis agreed to temporarily stay the execution so Mr. Thompson’s competency can be evaluated on October 1. If he is found competent, his execution remains scheduled for October 13.

Texas executes Ker’Sean Ramey

Texas executes man for a triple killing, days after other man convicted in case was put to death A man was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery at a rural home, 1 week after the other man convicted in the case was put to death. Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the 6th person executed this year in Texas, with 3 more lethal injections scheduled in the state over the next 2 months.

Florida | DeSantis sets execution of man who killed Indian River deputy, temporarily pauses another execution

William Reaves is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 20th. It's the 18th death warrant Gov. DeSantis has signed this year. Reaves shot Deputy Sheriff Richard Raczkowski in September 23, 1986. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his 18th death warrant of the year Friday. William Reaves, convicted of the 1986 killing of an Indian River County Sheriff's deputy, is set to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke on Oct. 20.

Texas House chairman wants child rapists eligible for death penalty

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Under current Supreme Court precedent, states cannot execute someone for raping a child if the victim survives. That’s not stopping State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney. “We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach, the chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, said. Leach made the comments while hosting a news conference supporting his client, abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire.

Israel | Ben Gvir discusses death penalty for Neveh Tzuf terrorist hours before Yom Kippur

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the Neveh Tzuf terrorist during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two hours before the start of Yom Kippur on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the possibility of applying the death penalty to the terrorist responsible for the attack in Neveh Tzuf during a security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu had reportedly convened the meeting in response to the security situation in the West Bank following the Sunday terror attack.

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed." SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.

Tennessee | Christa Pike Requests Clemency Ahead of September 30 Execution Date; Experts’ Amicus Brief Points to ‘Substantial Risk’ of Re-traumatization

Lawyers for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a 226-page clemency petition with Governor Bill Lee, asking him to commute her death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole ahead of her September 30 execution date. Ms. Pike’s clemency petition outlines the case her team has built over decades of appeals: her actions at 18 years old cannot be separated from a childhood marked by repeated rape, sexual abuse, and neglect that went unaddressed by the adults and state systems meant to protect her. Once incarcerated, Ms. Pike was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Taylor Parker becomes 7th woman on death row in Texas

Taylor Parker is set to become the 7th woman on death row in Texas, following her sentencing Wednesday in Bowie County for the capital murder of Reagan Hancock and the kidnapping her unborn baby, Braxlynn Sage. The baby did not survive. The last woman to be handed a death sentence in the state was Kimberly Cargill in June 2012 for the slaying of her developmentally disabled babysitter in Smith County, who was set to testify against her in a custody battle. None of the women currently on death row in Texas are scheduled for execution. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 6 women have been executed in Texas since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, more than any other state, according to Death Penalty Information Center. The last woman to be executed in the U.S. was Lisa Montgomery in January 2021. It was the first execution of a female inmate carried out by the federal government since 1953, and her case is chillingly reminiscent of Parker’s. She wa...

Alabama executes Jeffery Lee

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Alabama has executed Jeffery Lee, nearly three decades after he was convicted in the 1998 killings of two people during a pawnshop robbery in rural Dallas County. Lee, 49, was put to death by lethal injection Thursday evening at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. His execution came three months after a federal judge blocked Alabama's plans to execute him using nitrogen gas. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Central Time, according to the office of Governor Kay Ivey.

Texas set to execute second man convicted in 2005 South Texas triple murder

Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey is scheduled to die Wednesday, one week after the state executed his co-defendant for the same killings. Texas is scheduled to execute a man on Wednesday for the 2005 shooting deaths of three people during a botched robbery in a small South Texas town, just one week after the state put his co-defendant to death for the same crime. Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey, 41, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog