OKLAHOMA (USA): AG PRUITT ASKS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS TO STAY SCHEDULED EXECUTIONS

October 1, 2015: Attorney General Scott Pruitt filed a petition with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals seeking an indefinite stay of all scheduled executions.
The attorney general also said his office is launching an inquiry into the events surrounding the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip. "The state owes it to the people of Oklahoma to ensure that, on their behalf, it can properly and lawfully administer the sentence of death imposed by juries for the most heinous crimes. Not until shortly before the scheduled execution did the Department of Corrections notify my office that it did not obtain the necessary drugs to carry out the execution in accordance with the protocol. Until my office knows more about these circumstances and gains confidence that DOC can carry out executions in accordance with the execution protocol, I am asking the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to issue an indefinite stay of all scheduled executions. I am mindful of the families who have suffered an agonizing time through this process, and my heart breaks for them. At least 3 families have waited a combined 48 years for closure and finality after losing a loved one. Yet, they deserve to know, and all Oklahomans need to know with certainty, that the system is working as intended," Attorney General Pruitt said.
The attorney general said his office already has begun an inquiry into the events surrounding the scheduled Glossip execution. The attorney general said his office will work quickly to learn more about this issue, but there is no certain timetable as to when the inquiry will conclude. For the 2nd time in as many weeks, Glossip on Wednesday received a last-minute stay of execution - this time a 37-day delay from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin after prison officials said 1 of the 3 drugs they had received to carry out the lethal injection was the wrong one. Oklahoma's protocols call for the use of potassium chloride, but the state received potassium acetate instead. State law prohibits prison officials from revealing the drugs' supplier. While the drugs treat similar medical conditions, Oklahoma officials didn't know whether the potassium acetate was an appropriate substitute in an execution.
Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz said Wednesday that the Department of Corrections receives its lethal injection drugs on the day of an execution. But state officials had written to the local federal public defender's office in August to say prison officials had found the needed drugs. "I have received confirmation from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections that sufficient drugs to carry out the executions ... have been obtained," Assistant Attorney General John D. Hadden wrote in a letter Aug. 11.
The Corrections Department reached out immediately to the attorney general's office after realizing the mistake, Weintz said. Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office received word of the drug mix-up "shortly before" Glossip's scheduled execution Wednesday and advised that Oklahoma's lethal injection guidelines, which had been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, had to be followed, said Pruitt spokesman Aaron Cooper. "It is unclear why, and extremely frustrating to the attorney general, that the Department of Corrections did not have the correct drugs to carry out the execution," Cooper said. Glossip's lawyer, Dale Baich, said Wednesday that Oklahoma has had months to prepare. "Today's events only highlight how more transparency and public oversight in executions is sorely needed," he said.
The state's execution protocols call for the prison's death row section chief to ensure the drugs are ordered, arrive as scheduled and are properly stored after the execution date is set, which in Glossip's case happened 2 weeks ago. Fallin on Wednesday reset Glossip's execution for Nov. 6, saying it would give the state enough time to determine whether potassium acetate is a suitable substitute, or to find a supply of potassium chloride. Oklahoma's protocols call for the use of midazolam at the start of an execution. It is followed by vecuronium bromide, which halts an inmate's breathing, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. According to the National Institutes of Health, potassium acetate and potassium chloride both can be used in medical settings to treat low levels of potassium, which helps regulate heart rhythms, blood pressure and kidney function. NIH literature did not compare the drugs' effectiveness when used in death chambers. The governor's office said Wednesday it did not know whether potassium acetate ever had been used in an execution. A database maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty group, does not show potassium acetate among any state's drug protocols. (Sources: CBS news, Oklahoma, Office of the Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt, Hands off Cain, 01/10/2015)