First Inmate Put to Death in Oklahoma Since last Botched Execution Twitches in Pain and Screams 'My Body is on Fire' as He is Given the Same ****tail of Lethal Drugs
- Charles Frederick Warner's execution for the 1997 killing of an 11-month-old girl in Oklahoma City lasted 18 minutes today
- He screamed 'my body is on fire' but because of a paralytic drug could not show signs of distress
- His execution is the first in Oklahoma since Clayton Lockett's 43 minute execution went wrong
- Murderer Lockett writhed and moaned after being declared unconscious
Daily Mail UK, 18 January 2015
A convicted baby killer in Oklahoma screamed 'my body is on fire' as he violently twitched in his death chamber during his execution in Oklahoma on Thursday.
This is ten months after Oklahoma made headlines for 'inhumane execution practices' for the 43-minute botched killing of inmate Clayton Lockett who writhed and moaned in the gurney, suffering a heart attack when the injection of midazolam, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride failed to kill him swiftly.
Charles Frederick Warner's execution for the 1997 killing of 11-month-old girl Adrianna Waller in Oklahoma City lasted 18 minutes. Prison officials declared him dead at 7.28pm CST.
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Charles Warner was executed today in Oklahoma for the rape and murder of a baby girl
Warner was executed for killing 11-month-old Adrianna Waller in 1997
Reports that Warner's execution at Oklahoma State Penitentiary comes after they went before the Supreme Court following the botched execution and spend $71,000 on 'upgrades.'
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she believes the effectiveness of the drugs should be called into question because Oklahoma's execution method is scientifically
untested
This was a dissenting opinion in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling saying they wouldn’t consider whether or not the sedative given to the inmate would be strong enough to make him unconscious so he could not feel himself die.
'Petitioners have committed horrific crimes and should be punished but the eight amendment guarantees that no one should be subjected to an execution that causes searing, unnecessary pain before death' Sotomayer wrote.
Oklahoma's last execution saw murderer Clayton Lockett writhe and moan in the gurney after he was declared unconscious
The same three-drug method used on Lockett, involving sedative midazolam, was used on Warner
Warner's execution was scheduled on April 29, the same night Lockett was put to death but was postponed to Thursday of 2015.
Warner's attorney Madeline Cohen said there is no way to know whether or not Warner suffered because of the paralytic drug he was also given that prevented him from moving.
'Because Oklahoma injected Mr. Warner with a paralytic tonight, acting as a chemical veil, we will never know whether he experienced the intense pain of suffocation and burning that would result from injecting a conscious person with rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride,' Cohen said in a statement.
Warner made a statement before he was executed.
'Before I give my final statement, I'll tell you they poked me five times. It hurt. It feels like acid, ‘Warner said before his execution began. He added, 'I'm not a monster. I didn't do everything they said I did.'
After the first drug, the sedative midazolam, was administered and a microphone inside the death chamber was turned off, Warner said, "My body is on fire.' But he showed no obvious signs of distress.
Clayton Lockett moaned and tried to lift his head, prompting officials to try to halt the execution before he died in apparent agony
Witnesses said they saw slight twitching in Warner's neck about three minutes after the lethal injection started. The twitching lasted about seven minutes until he stopped breathing.
Gov. Mary Fallin issued a statement praising the professionalism of the prison staff.
'Justice was served tonight as the state executed Charles Warner for the heinous crime of raping and murdering an infant,' Fallin said.
Midazolam has been challenged in court as ineffective in rendering a person properly unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered, creating a risk of unconstitutional pain and suffering.
Attorneys for Oklahoma say a failed intravenous line and a lack of training led to the problems with Lockett's injection, not the drugs.
Warner and three other death row inmates filed a petition with the Supreme Court, calling for their executions to be called off. Warner was not granted such a luxury.
The appeal states:
'There is a well-established scientific consensus that [midazolam] cannot maintain a deep, comalike unconsciousness.'
Oklahoma has increased the amount of midazolam to be used by five times to mirror the recipe used in 11 successful executions in Florida.
But the drug was used in other botched executions in Arizona and Ohio last year, where inmates snorted and gasped after lethal injections.
Oklahoma has ordered new medical equipment such as backup IV lines and an ultrasound machine for finding veins and has renovated the execution chamber with new audio and video equipment to help the execution team spot potential problems.
Last year Shonda Waller, the mother of the raped and murdered baby, told KFOR that she did not want Warner to be executed.
She said:
'I don’t want to see him to be sentenced to death.
'If they truly want to honor me then they will do away with the death penalty for him and they will give him life in prison without the possibility of parole because that’s the only thing that’s going to honor me.
'I don’t see any justice in just sentencing someone to die.
'To me, the justice is in someone living with what they have done to you to your family, and having to live with that the rest of their life knowing they will never get to walk out those doors.'
Oklahoma Performs First Lethal Injection Since Botched Execution
Reporter Describes Long, Slow Death of Clayton Lockett