Oklahoma’s Horrific Botched Execution Could Have Been Prevented

 horrific scene played out at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary as prison officials attempted to carry out the first of what was supposed to have been a double execution. 

At 6:23 p.m., the execution began for Clayton Lockett, convicted in 1999 of killing 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman.

Five minutes after a cocktail of lethal drugs was injected, Lockett began shivering, breathing deep, blinking, and gritting his teeth. Seven minutes into the execution, Lockett alerted prison officials that he was still conscious. Ten minutes into the execution, prison officials announced that he was finally unconscious. Thirteen minutes in, Lockett moved his head from side to side and then lifted it off of the bed. Fifteen minutes in, Lockett was mumbling, breathing heavily, and appeared to be struggling. Sixteen minutes in, Lockett said “man” out loud, and tried to get up. Following this, a female prison official told horrified eyewitnesses, “We are going to lower the blinds temporarily." The blinds were never lifted.

Minutes after the blinds went down, the director of prisons told eyewitnesses there had been a “vein failure” and that he was using his authority to issue a stay of execution. Less than a half hour later, after the director of prisons admitted the execution had been botched, Lockett was pronounced dead from what officials said was a heart attack.

more @ reason.com/blog/2014/04/30/oklahomas-horrific-botched-execution-cou