Several states have struggled to establish protocols for lethal injection, experimenting with new drugs or new combinations of drugs as the older ones become more hard to obtain.
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The mother-of-three was the first person to be executed in Georgia in 70 years.
Glossip, 52, was sentenced to die for his role in the 1997 murder of motel owner Barry Van Treese, who was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. They all received life sentences.
Glossip was one of a group of death row inmates who challenged the use of the drug.
Glossip’s name will be familiar to Supreme Court justices. Sneed’s credibility is further eroded by his wildly inconsistent stories: The amount he claimed Glossip paid him to commit murder increased with each telling, and other critical details changed repeatedly.
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) – Oklahoma’s attorney general on Thursday asked a court to delay all scheduled executions while the state reviews how it received the wrong drug as it prepared to lethally inject an inmate. Their lawyers argued that the use of Midazolam, a drug meant to induce unconsciousness, violated the United States constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Sister Prejean has been showing her support for Glossip as well.
The revamped protocol requires the death row unit section chief to do the following: “Ensure the chemicals are ordered, arrive as scheduled and are properly stored”. According to documents that Glossip’s attorneys filed with the OCCA on September 24, Prater brazenly attempted to intimidate those witnesses who came forward to discredit Sneed’s account of the Van Treese killing. “You told me you were going to talk to me tomorrow, and look at that!”
Oklahoma has two more executions planned in upcoming weeks.
Pruitt’s move came hours after Gov. Mary Fallin said she was confident the state could resolve its problems in time for an execution set for next week. There is no physical evidence linking Glossip to the crime scene, he was implicated by one witness whose self-interest was evident, and the prosecution’s theory was less than convincing.
Protesters lined the streets at the governor’s mansion in a joint effort to save Glossip. “I will never give up on him”. Glossip is now scheduled to die November 6. Glossip himself has always maintained his innocence, saying he was framed by Sneed.
Governor Mary Fallin, a Republican, said the state corrections department needed time to address questions raised on Wednesday about Oklahoma’s execution procedures and the chemicals used for lethal injections.
Jail informants told them that Sneed had been heard bragging about “setting Glossip up”, they said.
Prater, the prosecuting attorney, has been adamant that Glossip is guilty, and dismissed Scott’s statement.
Glossip’s execution already had been delayed Wednesday as the Corrections Department waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on Glossip’s claim of innocence. His conviction was overturned in 2001 only for him to be convicted again in 2004, on largely the same evidence.
Vigano also said he had sent a copy of the letter to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, while Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City said he made a similar request in a meeting with Fallin last month.
Now, after nearly two decades, the victim’s son Dabiel Van Treese, who is planning to attend the execution, said the people fighting to spare Glossip’s life have “more money than sense”.
A spokesman for Fallin says the governor does not have the authority to grant a commutation.
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However, a letter dated September 15 from Assistant Attorney General Jeb E. Joseph to Assistant Federal Public Defender Patti Palmer Ghezzi states the DOC makes all decisions in connection with the execution protocol, including procurement of supplies and all pharmaceuticals.
