Oklahoma must postpone execution scheduled for Thursday, court rules

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Oklahoma should postpone the executions of convicted inmates John Grant and Julius Jones while a legal challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol is adjudicated, a US appeals court panel ruled Wednesday.

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Grant’s execution, which was scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, will now take place only if the United States Supreme Court overturns the ruling of a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. .

Oklahoma will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, local media reported, citing a statement from Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor’s office.

Grant, 60, was sentenced to death for killing a prison employee, and Jones, 41, for murdering an insurance executive shot to death in his driveway. Jones has maintained his innocence for two decades in a case that has attracted the attention of celebrities and anti-death penalty activists.

In ordering the state to delay the execution of Grant and Jones, whose execution would take place on November 28, the justices said a lower court had unjustly denied the delays granted the two men to many other defendants who were pursuing a claim that challenged the constitutionality of the law. state’s three-drug lethal injection protocol.

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Opponents of the method say it could result in a prolonged and painful death in violation of the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishments.

“They run the risk of not being able to bring what could be a viable Eighth Amendment claim to federal courts before being executed using the method they have challenged,” the justices wrote.

Dale Baich, attorney for those convicted, welcomed the ruling and said in a statement: “Today’s order should prevent the state from carrying out executions until the federal district court addresses the ‘credible expert criticism’ that it identified. in Oklahoma enforcement proceedings. Those matters will be carefully reviewed by the court at the trial scheduled for February. “

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The Oklahoma attorney general’s office said in a statement provided to Oklahoma City television station KWTV-DT: “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will overturn the stay so that justice can finally be served for the people of Oklahoma. , including the families of the victims of these horrible crimes. “

Thirty-six US states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty or carried out no execution in the past 10 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Oklahoma has not carried out an execution in six years, since three failed attempts that ended with the death of Charles Frederick Warner in 2015. Warner, who was convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl, was executed using the drug. wrong. officials said later.

The previous year, Clayton Lockett, convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping, regained consciousness and raised his head after the execution proceedings began, only to die in apparent anguish less than an hour later, court records show.