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Oklahoma Execution: Inmate's 'Violent Struggle' Before Dying

Syuzanna Petrosyan |
April 30, 2014 | 10:14 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Clayton Lockett (Oklahoma Department of Corrections)
Clayton Lockett (Oklahoma Department of Corrections)
A new execution drug used on an Oklahoma inmate on Tuesday left the condemned man writhing, twitching and clenching his teeth. Prison officials halted the proceedings and the inmate died from heart attack shortly after.

Officials had to lower blinds to prevent people in the viewing gallery from watching what was happening to Clayton Lockett, 38, in the death chamber.

SEE ALSO: California Prison Reform: Assessing Realignment

The failure of the execution will likely fuel a debate about the ability of states to administer lethal injection that meet the U.S. Constitution's requirement that they neither be cruel nor unusual punishment. Another Oklahoma inmate's execution, which was to take place hour's after Lockett's, has been postponed

Read more at The Guardian.

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