Supreme Court Halts 3 Upcoming Executions in Oklahoma Over Drug Concerns

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of execution for three inmates in Oklahoma over concerns about the state’s lethal injection policy.

“Respondents’ application for stays of execution of sentences of death presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is granted and it is hereby ordered that petitioners’ executions using midazolam are staying pending final disposition of this case.” 

The Supreme Court’s decision came after Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt requested on Monday stays of execution for three death row inmates, one of whom, Richard Glossip, was scheduled to be lethally injected on Thursday.

Richard Glossip is scheduled to be executed Jan. 29, 2015. Oklahoma is willing to put three executions on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews whether a certain sedative can render death row inmates sufficiently unconscious, the state’s attorney general said in a Monday filing with the court.

© AP Photo / Oklahoma Department of Corrections

Glossip’s attorney Mark Henrickson said that the convict is relieved that the attorney general requested a stay of his execution.

“Mr. Glossip does not want to be executed on Thursday, and in addition to that he doesn’t want to be tortured to death the way Mr. Lockett was,” Henrickson said.

Oklahoma's execution procedure came under scrutiny last April when death row inmate Clayton Lockett struggled for 45-minutes before he finally died in the chamber room. 

That was the first time the state used a drug called Midazolam, which is being reviewed by the higher court. 

“I greatly fear there will be more spectacular disasters when people are executed with Midazolam, that people will have conscious suffering and it will be repugnant to the witnesses,” Henrickson said.

Midazolam appeared to have worked in the execution of Charles Warner’s, two weeks ago in Oklahoma.

Warner didn’t convulse on the table like Lockett, but he did say in his final words that he felt like his body was on fire.

“Of course we’re interested as to whether or not individuals are experiencing conscious pain and suffering and are being tortured to death or not, but I don’t think there’s any strategy between the lawyers and the condemned to try to orchestrate what’s done on the gurney,” Henrickson said.

Warner had also asked for the stay in execution under the claim that “this new drug cocktail is cruel and unusual punishment.”  But  the U.S. Supreme Court denied his stay in a 5 to 4 decision.

Attorney General Pruitt says ultimately he believes the U.S. Supreme Court will rule the same way.

Attorneys will argue their case in front of the justices in April, but a decision is not expected until late June.