OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The team responsible for executing
an Oklahoma inmate failed multiple times to insert an intravenous line
into his body to deliver lethal drugs, even though the man’s veins were
in good condition, according to a private autopsy released Friday by
attorneys for Oklahoma death row prisoners.
After the botched
execution of Clayton Lockett, prison officials had said an IV specialist
was unable to find suitable veins on his arms, legs or feet. Oklahoma
executions typically involve IVs inserted into both arms. A doctor
overseeing the April 29 execution suggested tapping a vein in Lockett’s
groin area, and said Lockett did not receive a full dose of the three
lethal drugs after his vein collapsed.
But forensic pathologist
Dr. Joseph Cohen said his preliminary findings indicate that Lockett had
healthy veins, and it appears the execution team tried repeatedly to
insert an intravenous line without success, including into deep veins on
both sides of Lockett’s groin.
Cohen cited the "excellent
integrity of peripheral and deep veins for the purpose of achieving
venous access." He also said Lockett’s body had numerous puncture wounds
from multiple attempts to tap them and he found signs of "failed
vascular catheter access."
He said more information was needed to
determine why Lockett died. Prison officials have said he died of an
apparent heart attack. Results from the initial state autopsy are still
pending, however, and toxicology reports haven’t been released — so it’s
unclear how much of the drugs Lockett received.
Prison officials
have not said who inserted the IV, and state law allows the identities
of the doctor and the IV expert to remain secret. Oklahoma prisons
spokesman Jerry Massie said Friday the IV specialist was a certified
emergency medical technician, but declined further comment until an
investigation into the botched execution is completed by the Oklahoma
Department of Public Safety.
Oklahoma was using the three-drug
method for the first time. After being declared unconscious by the
doctor inside the death chamber, Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned
and attempted to lift his head for several minutes after the second and
third drugs were administered.
After checking the IV, the doctor
reported the drugs had either absorbed into Lockett’s tissue or leaked
out of his body. Without a spare dose of lethal drugs, Oklahoma’s
prisons director halted the execution, but Lockett was pronounced dead
anyway about 43 minutes after the execution began.
Cohen said he
could not address whether Lockett died of a heart attack. Lockett’s
heart and larynx were kept by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s
Office, which conducted the first autopsy on Lockett at the request of
Oklahoma officials.
The Texas autopsy was part of an investigation
ordered by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin into Lockett’s death. The Oklahoma
Court of Criminal Appeals has issued a six-month stay of execution for a
second inmate who was scheduled to die on the same night as Lockett.
A
spokesman for Fallin said he hadn’t seen Cohen’s report, but that it
seemed to support the initial findings released by the Department of
Corrections after Lockett’s execution.
"It appears to reinforce
what we already know, which is that there was a problem inserting the
IV," said Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz.
Lockett, a four-time
felon, was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Nieman with a
sawed-off shotgun and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in
rural Kay County in 1999 after Nieman and a friend arrived at a home the
men were robbing.