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Glossip’s execution stayed after state discovers it has wrong drug [1]
['Ziva Branstetter', 'Cary Aspinwall', 'September']
Date: 2022-07
McALESTER— Richard Glossip had eaten his second last meal and was watching television news to figure out why he wasn’t dead yet.
Glossip learned about 3:45 pm that he wouldn’t die Wednesday. But he didn’t know why.
Outside the white walls of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Glossip’s family and friends thought he was already dead. Reporters heard them crying out in anguish when they learned the Supreme Court had denied Glossip’s request for a stay.
But it turned out Oklahoma didn’t have the right lethal drug to carry out the last step of his execution. Instead of potassium chloride, which stops the heart, the prison had potassium acetate.
“That’s just crazy,” Glossip said, via speakerphone held up as reporters crowded around. “Nobody has really said much of anything.”
Glossip has had four stays of execution, including on Sept. 16, the day he was to be put to death. The stay on Wednesday “is the most stressful it has been.” He had been moved to a holding cell and was not taken into the death chamber.
“I’m sitting there watching TV trying to keep up with the news and find out what’s going on,” he said.
Glossip has 37 more days to live based on Gov. Mary Fallin’s stay issued Wednesday. Earlier in the day, his attorneys said they had asked the governor to give them 60 days to make a new clemency plea to the state Pardon and Parole Board.
Shortly before Glossip’s 3 p.m. scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay and declined to hear his new claims of innocence. About 3:45 p.m., a prison spokesman told about 30 journalists gathered in the media center the execution was off.
Execution for #richardglossip stayed due to question about drug pic.twitter.com/btG55owpFU — Cary Aspinwall (@caryaspinwall) September 30, 2015
In a press release, Fallin said: “Last minute questions were raised today about Oklahoma’s execution protocol and the chemicals used for lethal injection. After consulting with the attorney general and the Department of Corrections, I have issued a 37 day stay of execution while the state addresses those questions and ensures it is complying fully with the protocols approved by the United States Supreme Court.”
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Fallin’s spokesman confirmed that DOC had received the drug mid-Wednesday morning, which still left officials hours to discover the problem.
In a terse statement to reporters, DOC Director Robert Patton said he had visited with the family of Barry Van Treese.
#BREAKING: I just received this statement from the Van Treese Family regarding #RichardGlossip stay @NEWS9 pic.twitter.com/58FMPOlR32 — Justin Dougherty (@DoughertyNews9) October 1, 2015
Glossip was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1997 killing of Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Van Treese was beaten to death with a baseball bat by Justin Sneed, who testified Glossip paid him to carry out the killing.
Patton announced the execution couldn’t begin as planned, but said little else before rushing out of the room without taking questions. A spokeswoman said she hoped to have more information soon on the drug mixup.
DOC Director said little, took no questions similar to situation after Lockett. Anything they say could end up in federal legal challenge. — Ziva Branstetter (@ZivaBranstetter) September 30, 2015
Oklahoma changed its protocol in the wake of the April 2014 botched execution of Clayton Lockett, in which an IV was improperly inserted. Lockett died on the gurney 43 minutes after his execution began.
The state’s announcement that it had received potassium acetate instead of potassium chloride raised questions about when prison officials knew they had the wrong drug. Changes in the protocol made Patton ultimately responsible for overseeing executions instead of the prison’s warden.
The revamped protocol also requires the death row unit section chief to do the following: “Ensure the chemicals are ordered, arrive as scheduled and are properly stored. The chemicals shall be under the direct control of the H Unit Section Chief and stored in a secured, locked area and monitored to ensure compliance with manufacturer specifications.”
The state is required to notify the inmate if it plans to use a compounded drug at least 10 days before the execution but Glossip’s attorney said he received no such notice.
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[1] Url:
https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/glossips-execution-stayed-after-state-discovers-it-has-wrong-drug/
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