OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorneys for 21 Oklahoma death row inmates head to federal court this week hoping that behind-the-scenes details of an execution gone awry will prevent a "bloody mess" from ever happening again.
Attorneys for the state of Oklahoma say new lethal injection protocols will address the problems encountered during April's bungled execution of 38-year-old Clayton Lockett. But the inmates argue the state is experimenting on them with new drug combinations that amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Oklahoma's first execution since Lockett's is set for Jan. 15. A federal judge will decide after hearings that begin Wednesday in a case that questions whether the state is ready.
A legal filing in the case included unreleased witness accounts of Lockett's execution. Warden Anita Trammell described it as a "bloody mess."