Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett died during a botched execution on Tuesday, minutes after a doctor had called a halt to the procedure, raising more questions about new death penalty cocktails used by the state and others, according to the Associated Press.
Thirteen minutes after administering a lethal injection at the state's death chamber in McAlester, Lockett lifted his head and started mumbling, the AP reported. The doctor on scene halted the execution, said state corrections department spokesman Jerry Massie.
According to Massie, Lockett died of an apparent massive heart attack about 40 minutes after the procedure started, Massie said, the AP reported.
"We believe that a vein was blown and the drugs weren't working as they were designed to. The director ordered a halt to the execution," Massie said, the AP reported.
The troubled execution was expected to have national implications, with lawyers for death row inmates having argued that new lethal injection cocktails used in Oklahoma and other states could cause undue suffering and violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, according to the AP.
"This could be a real turning point in the whole debate as people get disgusted by this sort of thing," said Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors capital punishment, the AP reported.
"This might lead to a halt in executions until states can prove they can do it without problems. Someone was killed tonight by incompetence," Dieter said, according to the AP.
Witness Ziva Branstetter told broadcaster MSNBC Lockett was thrashing about and appeared to be in pain, the AP reported.
The state blocked off the scene from witnesses a few minutes after the troubles started by drawing a curtain on the execution chamber, according to the AP.
"His body was sort of bucking. He was clenching his jaw. Several times he mumbled phrases that were largely unintelligible," Ziva said, the AP reported.
The execution had been put on hold for several weeks due to a legal fight over a new cocktail of chemicals for the lethal injection, with lawyers arguing the state was withholding crucial information about the drugs to be used, according to the AP.
