A death row inmate was shaken by vomiting and convulsions during his execution Thursday in the US state of Oklahoma, where the executioners used a lethal cocktail suspected of causing excruciating suffering. John Grant, a 60-year-old African American, was sentenced in 2000 to death for the murder of a prison employee.
After receiving the green light from the Supreme Court of the United States, the prison authorities of this conservative southern state injected him with three substances and his death was pronounced at 4:21 pm (9:21 pm GMT).
This protocol had already been applied in 2014 and 2015, but the apparent suffering of the detainees led the state to declare a moratorium on executions. John Grant “began to convulse shortly after injecting the first product,” said US agency AP reporter Sean Murphy, who witnessed the scene. According to him, he convulsed about 20 times and vomited several times before dying. “I witnessed 14 executions, I had never seen that before,” added the journalist.
A “humane and efficient” protocol, assure the authorities
His ordeal immediately aroused strong criticism. “Oklahoma had sabotaged its last three execution attempts before its six-year hiatus, but apparently did not learn any lessons from this experience,” Robert Dunham, who heads the Information Center, told AFP. the death penalty (DPIC). “For the third time in a row, the Oklahoma execution protocol has not worked properly,” added Dale Baich, lawyer for several convicts including John Grant. “There should be no more executions in Oklahoma before the trial begins in February,” which will deal with this specific point, he added.
A few days ago, the Oklahoma prison services had nevertheless estimated in a statement that their protocol was “humane and effective” and that the executions could resume. Dale Baich had however underlined that there remained “serious questions” on the pains caused by this lethal cocktail and on its conformity with the American Constitution which prohibits “the cruel and unusual punishments”. On Wednesday an appeal court had ruled in his favor and had suspended the execution. But the authorities in Oklahoma immediately seized the Supreme Court of the United States to ask it to reverse this decision.
Without explaining its reasons, the high court finally gave the green light to execution in extremis. Its three progressive judges, however, made it clear that they disagreed with the Conservative majority.
“My body is burning”
The contested protocol combines a sedative, midazolam, and an anesthetic, believed to prevent pain before the lethal-dose potassium chloride injection. It had been used in 2014 to execute Clayton Lockett, but the convict had agonized for 43 minutes in apparent pain.
In 2015, another convict, Charles Warner, complained that his “body burned” before dying, the executioners having used a non-compliant product. The same error was almost reproduced in September 2015 and an execution was postponed at the last minute.
Following these failures, a grand jury opened an investigation and the authorities agreed to suspend the application of the death penalty. In 2020, they finalized a new protocol and set several execution dates in 2021, starting with that of John Grant.
In 1998, he killed with a screwdriver a woman who worked in the prison cafeteria where he was serving a sentence for an armed robbery. Oklahoma also plans to execute on November 18 Julius Jones, a 41-year-old African-American, sentenced in 2002 to death for the murder of a white businessman whom he has always denied.
His case was the subject of a documentary series, a podcast and he is supported by many associations and personalities like Kim Kardashian, convinced of his innocence. He lost all legal remedies, but the Oklahoma Pardons Office recommended that his sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. The governor has not yet decided.
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