OKLAHOMA CITY — A longtime lawyer for Oklahoma's prison system said Thursday that he felt pressured by the governor's and attorney general's offices to make sure two executions last spring happened on schedule, even though the state didn't have the drugs to carry them out.
With access drying up to its usual cache of lethal drugs because of manufacturers' opposition to the death penalty, retired Department of Corrections general counsel Michael Oakley talked to counterparts in other states and conducted his own online research before settling on midazolam, a sedative the state had never used before.
"There was pressure from people above us to get it done," Oakley told a federal judge who is considering whether death row inmates have a valid complaint that the state is essentially experimenting on them by using untested drugs or drug combinations during executions.
The lawsuit follows the April execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney, mumbled and tried to lift his head after the lethal drugs were injected directly into his tissue instead of his blood because of problems with an intravenous line.
Before the execution, Oklahoma adopted a new protocol that included midazolam, along with two others designed to stop his breathing and his heart. The 43-minute execution prompted the state to impose a moratorium, which is set to end Jan. 15.
Lockett's execution was initially scheduled for March 20, but the state postponed because it didn't have enough drugs on hand.
In testimony Thursday before U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot, Oakley said he received word from Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office "to go ahead and do something."
Midazolam, a sedative commonly used before surgery, had been used successfully at a much higher dose in Florida, but during a January execution in Ohio, an inmate made gasp-like sounds for several minutes before dying. The drug also was used in a lengthy Arizona execution in July.
