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| Lethal injections: a brief history of botched US executions | Lethal injections: a brief history of botched US executions |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The death of Clayton Lockett after a botched execution in Oklahoma on Tuesday night was not the first time something went wrong during a lethal injection. A look at recent executions where things didn’t go as planned: | The death of Clayton Lockett after a botched execution in Oklahoma on Tuesday night was not the first time something went wrong during a lethal injection. A look at recent executions where things didn’t go as planned: |
| Dennis McGuire, 53 | Dennis McGuire, 53 |
| Executed: 16 January 2014 | Executed: 16 January 2014 |
| State: Ohio | State: Ohio |
| Drug protocol: A previously untested combination of two drugs – the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone – at concentrations that experts warned beforehand were so low the prisoner could endure cruel and unusual punishment. | Drug protocol: A previously untested combination of two drugs – the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone – at concentrations that experts warned beforehand were so low the prisoner could endure cruel and unusual punishment. |
| What happened: A priest who was an eyewitness to the execution described the procedure as “ghastly” and “inhumane”. McGuire took 26 minutes to die, during which time he gasped audibly for air as he struggled to breath. A leading expert on anaesthesiology had warned Ohio that its protocol was inadequate and would inflict exactly the suffering that then appeared to play out. After an internal review, Ohio said this week it had done nothing wrong, but would nevertheless be increasing its dosages in future executions. | What happened: A priest who was an eyewitness to the execution described the procedure as “ghastly” and “inhumane”. McGuire took 26 minutes to die, during which time he gasped audibly for air as he struggled to breath. A leading expert on anaesthesiology had warned Ohio that its protocol was inadequate and would inflict exactly the suffering that then appeared to play out. After an internal review, Ohio said this week it had done nothing wrong, but would nevertheless be increasing its dosages in future executions. |
| Michael Lee Wilson, 38 | Michael Lee Wilson, 38 |
| Executed: 9 January 2014 | Executed: 9 January 2014 |
| State: Oklahoma | State: Oklahoma |
| Drug protocol: Three-drug lethal injection starting with pentobarbital. As supplies of pentobarbital were running out following the European boycott of use of medicines in executions, Oklahoma turned to a compounding pharmacy to make up the pentobarbital. Compounding pharmacies are poorly regulated, and Oklahoma has refused to give any details of the source of the supply under new secrecy rules. | Drug protocol: Three-drug lethal injection starting with pentobarbital. As supplies of pentobarbital were running out following the European boycott of use of medicines in executions, Oklahoma turned to a compounding pharmacy to make up the pentobarbital. Compounding pharmacies are poorly regulated, and Oklahoma has refused to give any details of the source of the supply under new secrecy rules. |
| What happened: Within 20 seconds of the execution, Wilson said from the gurney: “I feel my whole body burning”. | What happened: Within 20 seconds of the execution, Wilson said from the gurney: “I feel my whole body burning”. |
| William Happ, 51 | William Happ, 51 |
| Executed: 15 October 2013 | Executed: 15 October 2013 |
| State: Florida | State: Florida |
| Drug protocol: Happ was the first prisoner to be put to death using midazolam hydrochloride, a fast-acting sedative that had never been used before in executions, and the same drug deployed as the first of three lethal injections in Oklahoma last night. | Drug protocol: Happ was the first prisoner to be put to death using midazolam hydrochloride, a fast-acting sedative that had never been used before in executions, and the same drug deployed as the first of three lethal injections in Oklahoma last night. |
| What happened: Happ’s eyes opened and he blinked repeated for a prolonged period, and he yawned and his jaw opened. After an official pronounced him unconscious his head began moving again. | What happened: Happ’s eyes opened and he blinked repeated for a prolonged period, and he yawned and his jaw opened. After an official pronounced him unconscious his head began moving again. |
| Brandon Rhode, 31 | Brandon Rhode, 31 |
| Executed: 27 September 2010 | Executed: 27 September 2010 |
| State: Georgia | State: Georgia |
| Drug protocol: Three-drug lethal injection starting with sodium thiopental which was the commonly-used old formula before sodium thiopental ran out in the wake of the European drug boycott of death penalty prisons. | Drug protocol: Three-drug lethal injection starting with sodium thiopental which was the commonly-used old formula before sodium thiopental ran out in the wake of the European drug boycott of death penalty prisons. |
| What happened: It took about 30 minutes for officials to find a vein in which to inject the three drugs. Once that had been accomplished it took a further 14 minutes to kill him. Six days earlier, Rhode had tried to commit suicide by slashing his veins with a razor blade. | What happened: It took about 30 minutes for officials to find a vein in which to inject the three drugs. Once that had been accomplished it took a further 14 minutes to kill him. Six days earlier, Rhode had tried to commit suicide by slashing his veins with a razor blade. |
| Romell Broom, 57 | |
| Execution: 15 September 2009 | Execution: 15 September 2009 |
| State: Ohio | State: Ohio |
| Drug protocol: Triple injection starting with sodium thiopental | |
| What happened: Officials tried for more than two hours to find a useable vein, stabbing Broom with needles at least 18 times and making him scream and cry. At one point, the prisoner, lying on the gurney, tried to help the officials locate a vein. Eventually, the execution was stopped. Broom remains alive, awaiting a new execution date on death row. | What happened: Officials tried for more than two hours to find a useable vein, stabbing Broom with needles at least 18 times and making him scream and cry. At one point, the prisoner, lying on the gurney, tried to help the officials locate a vein. Eventually, the execution was stopped. Broom remains alive, awaiting a new execution date on death row. |
| Christopher Newton, 37 | |
| Execution: 24 May 2007 | |
| State: Ohio | |
| Drug protocol: Triple injection | |
| What happened: Newton, whose weight of about 265lb allegedly contributed to difficulties, was allowed a bathroom break because it took the execution team over 30 minutes and 10 attempts with the needle to find a vein. At one point a prison official hung a sign before the viewing room glass that read "We have told the team to take their time. His size is creating a problem." It took about 16 minutes, reportedly twice the average, before Newton was declared dead, during which time witnesses reported convulsions. | |
| Joseph Lewis Clark, 57 | |
| Execution: 2 May 2006 | |
| State: Ohio | |
| Drug protocol: Triple injection | |
| What happened: The execution team “struggled for 25 minutes to find usable veins” (Clark had a history of drug use). The execution, which should have taken about 10 minutes, lasted almost an hour and a half. Witnesses said that “Clark raised his head, shook it back and forth, and repeatedly declared, ‘It don’t work,’” and that his moans were audible through the glass of the viewing room. | |
| Ángel Nieves Díaz, 55 | |
| Execution: 13 December 2006 | |
| State: Florida | |
| Drug protocol: Lethal injection | |
| What happened: Executioners “pushed [the needles] all the way through the blood vessels into surrounding soft tissue”, rather than into his veins, leaving him with chemical burns on both arms. According to the Associated Press, “witnesses reported Diaz was moving as long as 24 minutes after the first injection, including grimacing, blinking, licking his lips, blowing and attempting to mouth words.” The execution took about 34 minutes. The duration of three-drug lethal injections vary depending on state protocol and the drugs involved, but the AP reports that this method would typically take 15 minutes, with the inmate unconscious after 3-5 minutes. | |
| Brian Steckel, 36 | |
| Execution: 4 November 2005 | |
| State: Delaware | |
| Drug protocol: Triple injection | |
| What happened: The machine meant to deliver the lethal drugs did not function correctly, forcing the execution team to switch to a backup device. They did not re-administer the sedative, however, leaving Steckel lucid throughout the 12 minutes it took for the drugs to take effect. He spoke throughout, and at one point looked to the warden and said, “I didn’t think it would take this long.” | |
| Pedro Medina, 39 | |
| Execution: 25 March 1997 | |
| State: Florida | |
| Method: Electric chair | |
| What happened: Medina's head caught fire from inside its mask after officials delivered electricity to the chair.A witness testified that Medina kept breathing for several seconds after smoke and and smell became palpable. | |
| Jesse Tafero, 43 | |
| Execution: 4 May 1990 | |
| State: Florida | |
| Method: Electric chair | |
| What happened: On the electric chair Tafero’s head “burst into flame”, which officials blamed on the synthetic, “water-filled sponge attached to his head [to] conduct electricity from the electrode.” Prison officials then decided that “only sea sponges could enter the death chamber.” | |
| Jimmy Lee Gray, 34 | |
| Execution: 2 September 1983 | |
| State: Mississippi | |
| Method: Gas chamber | |
| What happened: During the 47 minutes of the execution, Gray “foamed at the mouth and [beat] his head violently against a metal pole just behind the chair.” Executioners drew the blind on the viewing chamber after a few minutes. | |
| Thomas Ketchum, 37 | |
| Execution: 26 April 1901 | |
| State: New Mexico | |
| Method: Hanging | |
| What happened: Because executioners had too much rope and built the gallows too tall, Ketchum fell with such force that “His head was severed from the body by the rope as if by a guilllotine,” as the San Francisco Chronicle told it at the time. “The headless trunk pitched forward toward the spectators and blood spurted upon those nearest the scaffold.” | |
| William Kemmler, 30 | |
| Execution: 6 August 1890 | |
| State: New York | |
| Drug protocol: Electric chair | |
| What happened: Executioners declared Kemmler dead after 10 seconds, but a bleeding cut on his hand made them realize he was still alive. They turned the chair on twice more, during which time Kemmler convulsed and moaned, and after which he died. | |
| Wallace Wilkerson, 45 | |
| Execution: 16 May 1879 | |
| State: Territory of Utah | |
| Drug protocol: Firing squad | |
| What happened: Seated before the squad, the volley of bullets only knocking him out of the chair while he screamed “Oh my God! My God! They have missed!” He bled to death 27 minutes later. |