Oklahoma will put two more executions on hold as it sorts out why it got the wrong drug for the execution of Richard Glossip earlier this week.
The state’s Court of Criminal Appeals released an order Friday that halts executions for Benjamin Cole and John Grant. Gov. Mary Fallin already postponed Glossip’s execution until Nov. 6.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt asked the court to postpone the executions so that his office can investigate the events surrounding Glossip’s postponed execution, according to the Associated Press. The problem was that government officials got the wrong drug for the execution, Pruitt said Thursday.
Glossip faced execution on Wednesday for the 1997 murder-for-hire plot of Barry Von Treese, Glossip’s boss at a local motel.
But right before the execution was going to begin, Fallin issued a stay. The stated reason was to ensure that the drug sodium acetate met state execution protocols.
But now it appears that the Department of Corrections discovered shortly before the execution that it didn’t obtain the necessary drugs to carry out the execution per state protocols, according to Pruitt.
“I am mindful of the families who have suffered an agonizing time through this process, and my heart breaks for them,” Pruitt said.
He didn’t give a timetable for completing the inquiry. The court asked for Pruitt to give updates every month.
Glossip’s execution has been delayed four times. He was sentenced to death in 2004.
Roughly two weeks ago the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals delayed the execution to examine new evidence in the case. It proclaimed the execution could move forward after concluding the evidence didn’t unearth anything new.
Glossip’s execution was also delayed while he fought a lethal injection drug all the way to the Supreme Court. Glossip and other inmates wanted the drug midalozam to not be used in executions, arguing that it was never approved to act as a sedative.
Midalozam was part of the three-drug cocktail used to kill Clayton Lockett, whose 45-minute execution brought new attention to the types of drugs used in lethal injections.
The reason states are turning to midalozam is it is more difficult to get lethal injection drugs. Manufacturers and pharmacies that make custom prescriptions are increasingly not providing the drugs.
This has led to some states to turn to older methods of execution as a backup. For example, Utah went back to the firing squad if the drugs aren’t available for an execution.
