Oklahoma to review procedures after botched execution

Execution of Clayton Lockett (pictured): Journalist and witness Courtney Francisco describes what she saw - some may find this audio distressing.

The governor of the US state of Oklahoma has ordered a "full review" of the state's execution procedures following a botched execution.

Clayton Lockett's execution was stopped after 20 minutes on Tuesday evening
Officials say one of his veins ruptured, preventing the drugs from taking full effect. He died of a heart attack less than an hour later.
The execution of a fellow inmate, scheduled to die hours after Lockett, has been postponed amid the review.
Lockett was sentenced to death for shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in 1999.

Analysis

Since it was first used in Texas in 1982, "the triple-drug cocktail" has become the standard execution method in US states that have the death penalty. It was designed by anaesthesiologist Stanley Deutsch as an "extremely humane" way to end life.
The first drug, a barbiturate, "shuts down" the central nervous system, rendering the prisoner unconscious. The second paralyses the muscles and stops the person breathing. The third, potassium chloride, stops the heart.
But critics suggest that the method may well be painful. One suggestion is that people could be too sedated by the first drug to cry out, or that they might be in pain but paralysed by the second drug.
Another complication, as appears to have been the case with Clayton Lockett, is that intravenous drug use is common among death row inmates, meaning many prisoners have damaged veins that are difficult to inject.
Problems sourcing some of the drugs in the official protocol have also led to claims that states are using untested drugs in their executions.

Ms Neiman and a friend had interrupted the men as they robbed a home.

Lockett's lawyer, David Autry, said the failed execution was a "horrible thing to witness".
"Obviously the whole thing was gummed up and botched from beginning to end," Mr Autry said. "Halting the execution obviously did Lockett no good."
The problems surrounding Lockett's execution come amid a wider debate over the legality of the three-drug method and whether its use violates guarantees in the US constitution "against cruel and unusual punishment".
Both men scheduled to die on Tuesday had unsuccessfully challenged a state law that shields the identities of companies supplying the drugs.
'Trying to talk' The execution began at 18:23 local time (00:23 GMT), when officials administered a sedative.
Lockett was declared unconscious 10 minutes later, allowing officials to begin injecting the two drugs that would kill him.
But three minutes later, he began breathing heavily and writhing.
Courtney Francisco, a local journalist present at the execution, told the BBC Lockett was moving his arms and legs and straining his head, mumbling "as if he was trying to talk".

Lockett (L) and Warner (R) were due to be put to death in the same room, just two hours apart

Prison officials pulled a curtain across the view of witnesses when it became apparent that something had gone wrong.
Oklahoma's top prison official ordered a halt to the execution shortly after.
"We believe that a vein was blown and the drugs weren't working as they were designed to." Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said.
But Mr Autry questioned the remarks, insisting his client "had large arms and very prominent veins," according to the Associated Press
'Tortured to death' Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said in a statement that she had issued a 14-day stay of execution for fellow inmate Charles Warner, 46, while the state completed a review of its execution procedures.
Warner had been scheduled to be put to death in the same room two hours later in a rare double execution.‏
Warner was convicted of the 1997 murder and rape of an 11-month-old girl.
His lawyer, Madeline Cohen, who witnessed Lockett's execution, said he had been "tortured to death" and called for an independent investigation, including an outside medical examination.
US states have encountered increasing problems in obtaining the drugs for lethal injections, amid an embargo by European pharmaceutical firms.
Some have turned to untried combinations of drugs or have sought to obtain the drugs custom-made from compounding pharmacies. Several US states that still have the death penalty have since switched to a single-drug method.
Warner and Lockett had unsuccessfully challenged an Oklahoma state law that blocks officials from revealing - even in court - the identities of the companies supplying the drugs.
The state maintains the law is necessary to protect the suppliers from legal action and harassment.
Lockett and Warner argued they needed to know the names of the suppliers in order to ensure the quality of the drugs that would be used to kill them and to be certain that they had been obtained legally.