According to a report by Corrections Department Director Robert Patton, condemned death row inmate Clayton Lockett showed defiance leading to his execution on Tuesday. USA Today said Patton's report was in compliance of a timeline provided by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, who ordered a review on Lockett's death after the 38 year-old murderer was observed to have been in pain while receiving the lethal drugs. Lockett reportedly writhed, groaned and convulsed as the three-drug cocktail was administered in his system. He had died on a heart attack 43 minutes following the administration of the drugs.
As a result of Lockett's death, Patton also ordered the postponement of the execution of Charles Warner, who was supposed to be killed two hours after Lockett's execution.
Lockett, who was handed out a death sentence following his fatal shooting of 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman in 1999 after her and her friend's interruption of a burglary, had been visited by the prison's emergency response team in the early hours of the morning to escort the condemned inmate for X-rays, Patton's report said. During the examination, it was discovered that Lockett wounded himself, of which at that time, the latter was watched over by three guards until his scheduled execution at 5:20PM CT the same day. Lockett reportedly refused to be restrained, nor see his lawyers, make a final statement or even accept his final tray of food.
Patton's report also revealed that a phlebotomist took 50 minutes to find a usable vein in Lockett while the latter was strapped down on the execution table. The phlebotomist resorted to using the vein in his groin area, of which was covered with a sheet for privacy from execution witnesses.
After the administration of the first drug, a sedative called midazolam, Lockett was declared unconscious ten minutes later. The administration of the next two drugs, a muscle relaxant and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, a doctor discovered 20 minutes later that the vein collapsed, and that the drugs had leaked out or had been absorbed into the tissue or both. Patton said he had halted the execution at 6:56PM when a doctor said the unconscious Lockett had a faint heartbeat. Minutes later, he was pronounced dead from a heart attack.
In his four-page letter to Fallin, Patton stressed that Responsibility and decision-making in lethal executions should be transferred to upper management and its director.
