Doctor says Oklahoma inmate suffered in execution

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By SEAN MURPHY

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A doctor who examined the body of an Oklahoma inmate who died during a botched execution told a federal judge Wednesday that he is convinced the man suffered after being declared unconscious.

Dr. Joseph Cohen, a pathologist hired by the inmate's lawyer, said that recently released witness statements corroborate his belief that Clayton Lockett was conscious when given drugs to stop his heart and breathing. Several witnesses, including an Associated Press reporter, saw the inmate struggle against his restraints, mumble and try to raise his head.

"Mr. Lockett had been deemed unconscious but became conscious again," Cohen testified at a hearing on whether Oklahoma should resume executions Jan. 15 after a self-imposed moratorium. Death row inmates say they fear the state is conducting human experiments on them by using newly approved drug combinations during executions.

The state maintains that Lockett's problematic execution was an anomaly caused by an improperly set intravenous line and not the result of using the sedative midazolam as the first in a three-drug combination.

FULL story at link.



File - This Oct. 9, 2014 file photo, shows an arm restraint on the gurney in the the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla. Attorneys for 21 death row inmates who will be in a federal court this week challenging Oklahoma's lethal injection procedure outlined their strategy in court documents that reveal grisly new details in the botched execution of an inmate in April, 2014. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141218/us-oklahoma-execution-lawsuit-caff946344.html

[niyad]

1. nss

[inanna]

2. How the death penalty continued its slow, steady decline in 2014 (Washington Post)

The death penalty is on the decline in the United States in every conceivable category. Fewer states execute inmates, fewer executions are carried out and fewer people are sentenced to death in the first place.

This year, as executions went awry in high-profile ways, this clear trend continued. The United States executed 35 inmates in 2014, the smallest number in two decades. And the number of inmates sentenced to death is projected to be 72, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which would be fewer than a quarter of the number of death sentences handed down in the mid-1990s.

“Not every year will show declines in every measure, but the overall pattern has been away from the death penalty,” the Death Penalty Information Center said its annual report, which was released early Thursday morning.

As a sign of how much of the country has shifted away from the practice, four out of five executions were carried out in just three states: Texas, Missouri and Florida. A total of seven states carried out executions, which is also significantly down from the 20 states that executed inmates in 1999.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/12/18/how-the-death-penalty-continued-its-slow-steady-decline-in-2014/

[oldandintheway]

3. I wonder

if Stephanie Nieman suffered when he buried her alive?

[Snow Leopard]

4. was thinking the same thing

n/t

[Blandocyte]

5. He was sentenced to death

not sentenced to suffering. It's a fine line.

[KingCharlemagne]

6. I get it. Because the convict made his victim suffer, the state is

allowed to inflict cruel and unusual punishment. How positively Old Testament-y of you.

[LanternWaste]

7. when you imply the state should reduce itself to the level of a murderer, you become a satire...

She most likely did. However, when one implies the state should reduce itself to the same ethical level of a murderer, one quickly becomes a satire of rational thought; and begins to advertise a priority of revenge over that of justice.

[Paladin]

9. Well put. Thank you. (nt)

[oldandintheway]

10. Missing the point

While the state did not intend for this convict to suffer needlessly, it happened. I really don't think they planned on making him suffer. He willfully and purposely inflicted pain and suffering upon her.

While I'm not an advocate of the death penalty, I really can't bring myself to feel pity for this man.

[Throd]

12. +1

[Stryst]

13. I would not bury someone alive

I would not torture someone. When the state does it on my behalf, I still feel like the blood is on my hands.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

8. I'm against the death penalty

But while we have it, if murderers like Mr. Lockett have to suffer a bit, I don't exactly feel sorry for them.

[duhneece]

11. It's not about who he is, what he did

It's about the best of who we are supposed to be. Torture by state is torture. But then I think ALL death penalties are torture, inhumane, wrong.

[Ruby the Liberal]

14. I know this won't be popular

but this isn't even registering on my give-a-shit o'meter.

[Paladin]

15. To the contrary, it seems very popular with some. Unfortunately. (nt)

[Nye Bevan]

16. DU is at its least progressive in death penalty threads.

"Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one"

- Nietzsche