Horror as US execution goes very wrong

The execution of a murderer has gone horribly wrong, with the inmate suffering horrific convulsions in the botched procedure.

After a five-year moratorium, the US state of Oklahoma botched its third consecutive execution

John Marion Grant died after convulsing and vomiting following a lethal injection, according to witnesses.

Grant, 60, was convicted of murdering prison guard Gay Carter on November 13, 1998, when he stabbed her 16 times with a knife while he was serving sentences for robbery and illegal firearm charges.

John Marion Grant, s convicted murderer, vomited and experienced convulsions as he was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Oklahoma on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Almost immediately after he was injected, Grant experienced two dozen full body convulsions and began vomiting, according to reporter Sean Murphy, who witnessed the execution.

Mr Murphy reported that Grant continued to breathe for several minutes during which he experienced more convulsions, and vomited again before the execution team conducted a consciousness check.

He was declared unconscious by the team at 4.15pm, and was administered a second round of drugs at 4.16pm, Mr Murphy reported.

Grant stopped breathing at 4.17pm. The Department of Corrections recorded the execution complete at 4.21pm.

Mr Murphy told reporters, of the 14 executions he had witnessed, this is the first one in which the inmate vomited.

Death-row inmates in Oklahoma are now injected with an approved three-drug cocktail. Picture: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections announced that it would resume carrying out death sentences on Tuesday per state statute when it said Grant would be the first man to be killed by the state in five years.

Oklahoma executions were put on hold following a botched lethal injection in 2014 that left an inmate writhing on the gurney and drug mix-ups in 2015 in which the wrong lethal drugs were delivered.

One inmate was executed with an unapproved drug and a second inmate was just moments away from being led to the death chamber before prison officials realised the same wrong drug had been delivered for his execution.

Death-row inmates in Oklahoma are now injected with an approved three-drug cocktail: midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

There are 44 inmates awaiting the death penalty in Oklahoma. Picture: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

“Extensive validations and redundancies have been implemented since the last execution in order to ensure that the process works as intended,” the DOC said.

“The Department of Corrections has addressed concerns regarding carrying out the death penalty and is prepared to follow the will of the people of Oklahoma, as expressed in state statute, and the orders of the courts by carrying out the execution of inmates sentenced to death by a jury of their peers,” Director Scott Crow said in a statement.

There are currently 44 inmates awaiting the death penalty in Oklahoma, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Grant’s lawyer Sarah Jernigan released a statement after he was executed, in which she said her client regretted killing Ms Carter and was a lifelong victim of the state of Oklahoma’s institutions who never received the mental health care he deserved.

Grant suffered from child neglect, she said, and was left to look after himself on the streets. She said up until the day he died, he was unable to put the trauma he experienced into words.

“John Grant took full responsibility for the murder of Gay Carter, and he spent his years on death row trying to understand and atone for his actions more than any other client I have worked with,” Jernigan said in a statement, obtained by KOCO.

“However we must not forget Oklahoma’s hand in this tragic story. When John stole to feed and clothe himself and his siblings, Oklahoma labelled him a delinquent instead of a desperate and traumatised child left to fend for himself. John wasn’t even a teenager yet when Oklahoma sent him to the first of several state-run youth detention facilities,” she wrote.

The area reserved for people to witness executions. Picture: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

“Oklahoma ultimately dumped John onto the streets with no skills and no support for the mental illness that was exacerbated by years of being both the victim of and witness to beatings, rapes, and extended periods of solitary confinement, amongst other abuses. When he committed a robbery at age seventeen, Oklahoma sent him to an adult prison, subjecting him to further victimisation, as later documented in a class action lawsuit.”

She said Grant never got the mental health treatment he needed or deserved, and was presented with “incompetent lawyers” by the state “who had no business handling a case with the ultimate punishment at stake.”

“I pray John Grant is at peace now, and I pray his death brings peace and closure to Ms Carter’s family.

Ms Carter’s daughter gave her first television interview on KFOR this week, in which she recounted the day her mother was murdered while they were both working at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy.

“I was working the day she was killed at Dick Conner Correctional Center,” Pam said. “I saw mum on the ground, but I got to say, ‘mum, I love you.’ I got to say, I got to holler, ‘mum, I love you,’ before I had to get out of the way.”

Grant was executed for the brutal stabbing murder of prison guard Gay Carter. Picture: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

She told the outlet that she would be attending Grant’s execution on Thursday.

“My theory about the death penalty is there are some crimes that are so reprehensible that that is the ultimate option, because it is not about revenge. It is not about revenge. It is about keeping another person safe. I want to make sure that this does not happen to anybody else, that nobody has to go through what I and my family has had to go through,” she told KFOR. “The main thing it would have done for me, I think, is so I could say, ‘mum, he’s not going to hurt anybody else,’ because that’s what this is about, not letting him hurt someone else.”

The execution was criticised by the Rev Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City, in a statement to local outlets. The Catholic Church has deemed the death penalty “inadmissable” since 2018.

“The unnecessary rush to restart executions in Oklahoma by the governor and lawyer general is concerning and disappointing. Throughout our nation’s history we have justified the killing or mistreatment of our neighbours by lessening their value as human beings — whether it is the unborn, aged, native populations, African-Americans or those imprisoned.

“All human life is sacred. No matter how serious the crime committed, we do not forfeit the inherent dignity bestowed upon us by our Creator. There are other ways to administer just punishment without resorting to lethal measures.”

This story was published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission.