Botched Execution Timeline Raises Questions

A timeline of
Oklahoma’s
botched execution (covered yesterday) was released today by
Robert Patton, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
The timeline revealed that Clayton Lockett was Tasered and cut his
own arm hours before he was executed. The timeline also revealed
that the lethal injection IV was inserted into Lockett’s groin
area. The insertion area was “covered with a sheet” before the
curtain was lifted to prevent witnesses from viewing his groin.
Prior to inserting the IV, staff examined both of Lockett’s arms,
legs, feet, and his neck and concluded that “no viable point of
entry” was located.

It seems highly suspicious that a man, who was described by his
lawyer as being healthy and a non-drug user, would have no “viable
point of entry” for the IV besides his
groin.

A lot of information was left out of the timeline, which raises
questions about whether or not it’s fully transparent. For example,
it fails to mention Lockett thrashing violently and attempting to
speak, despite having been declared unconscious. It also does not
include any information about what happened between 6:56 p.m., when
the director of the Oklahoma DOC called off the execution, and 7:06
p.m., when Lockett was pronounced dead. Finally, little information
was included about what happened after the curtain was lowered at
6:42 p.m. The timeline states that the doctor checked the IV at
6:42 p.m. (the first time it was checked since Lockett was declared
unconscious at 6:33 p.m.) and found “the blood vein had collapsed,
and the drugs had either absorbed into tissue, leaked out or both.”
However, there’s no information about what happened between 6:44
p.m. and 6:56 p.m., besides details of a phone conversation between
the warden and the director, in which the warden admits that not
enough drugs had been administered to cause death.

In the document, Patton also recommended that the Court of
Criminal Appeals issue an indefinite stay of executions in the
state.