The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the executions of three inmates in Oklahoma even as it considers their challenge to the State’s lethal-injection protocol, which is based on the argument that the first of three drugs used does not effectively render the inmate unconscious, leading to agony when the other drugs are administered.
Concerns that inmates’ human rights were being violated through “cruel and unusual punishment” under these circumstances have mounted especially since last April when the sedative midazolam failed in Oklahoma for Clayton Lockett, who awoke mid-procedure and writhed in pain before dying of a heart attack 43 minutes after being injected.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a one-sentence order blocking the execution of three inmates including Richard Glossip, who was scheduled to die on Thursday night.
“We welcome today’s ruling staying executions in Oklahoma until the Court can addresses serious questions about the State’s risky lethal injection protocol,” said defence attorney Dale Baich, who referenced the Lockett case when he added, “The scientific evidence tells us that even the proper administration of midazolam can result in an inhumane execution.”
While the ruling was expected, given that the lawyers for both the inmates and the State had called upon the justices to intervene, Oklahoma has also sought permission of the court to resume executions if the prison could find a replacement drug, a suggestion that the Supreme Court has not closed the door upon.
The crisis of lethal drug shortages has affected a large number of U.S. State prisons ever since the main sedative used traditionally, sodium thiopental, became unavailable due to its sole manufacturer, a company called Hospira, halting production in 2010.
Thus, in recent times, Oklahoma has joined other States such as Missouri in using compounded execution drugs purchased from unnamed pharmacies, leading to alarm over the untested nature of the drugs and the excruciating deaths of inmates in several prominent cases such as Lockett’s.
Arguments in the current case for Oklahoma are scheduled for April 29, with a decision expected before July.
