On Thursday evening, Oklahoma executed Charles Frederick Warner (pictured), the first execution the state has held since the botched one that took place last year, the New York Daily News reports.
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The state executed Warner (pictured), a man convicted for raping and killing an 11-month old in Oklahoma City in 1997; however, last April, the state executed Clayton Lockett who was found guilty of killing and burying alive a 19-year-old woman in 1999.
Officials botched Lockett’s execution when the three-drug cocktail they gave him failed to take effect. As a result, the doctor administering the drugs tried inserting another needle in to his groin. That wound ended up puncturing an artery, causing a bloody mess until Lockett finally passed 43 minutes later.
Lockett’s estate filed a lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department Of Corrections over his death, alleging it amounted to torture because he bled out and the doctor failed to properly administer a catheter.
Warner, who was scheduled to die on the same day as Lockett, also sued, claiming the department used improper execution procedures.
Those ordeals convinced Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to order revision of state execution protocols, which lead to the state’s execution chamber receiving a $71,000 upgrade last fall.
After officers administered a sedative to Warner, he reportedly yelled, “My body is on fire,” and began involuntary twitching after the third drug — the lethal injection — was administered. His breathing reportedly stopped minutes later.
According to Warner’s attorney, there is no telling if he was suffering from the lethal injection or the paralytic injection he received shortly before the third drug.
“Because Oklahoma injected Mr. Warner with a paralytic tonight, acting as a chemical veil, we will never know whether he experienced the intense pain of suffocation and burning that would result from injecting a conscious person with rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride,” commented Madeline Cohen, who witnessed the execution.
Still, soon after Warner’s passing, Governor Mary Fallin released a statement complimenting the prison staff.
“Justice was served tonight as the state executed Charles Warner for the heinous crime of raping and murdering an infant,” Fallin said.
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Oklahoma Holds First Execution Since Botched One Last Year was originally published on newsone.com
