McALESTER, Okla. (AP) _ When they found Robert Brecheen groggy from an overdose in his cell, they rushed him to the hospital and had his stomach pumped. Then they brought him back to prison, strapped him on a gurney and executed him.

``Certainly, there’s irony,″ said Larry Fields, director of Oklahoma’s Corrections Department. ``But we’re bound by the law, the same law that he violated.″

Under a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the condemned ``has to be aware of his execution and he has to know why he is being executed,″ said Sandy Howard, an assistant Oklahoma attorney general.

ADVERTISEMENT

State Penitentiary Warden Ron Ward refused to speculate on how a man on death row could overdose on sedatives, and whether the 40-year-old killer was attempting suicide or just trying to delay his execution early Friday.

Brecheen was supposed to be put to death by injection at midnight.

Guards had trouble waking Brecheen in his holding cell about 9 p.m. Thursday. He was breathing heavily, his pupils were dilated and he drifted in and out of consciousness on the way to the hospital, but he was in no danger of dying then, officials said.

Inside the prison, the husband of murder victim Marie Stubbs waited patiently for the execution.

``It wasn’t his job to take his life,″ said 71-year-old Hilton Stubbs.

The execution was finally carried out about two hours late.

Before three drugs were pumped into his arm, Brecheen made a brief final statement, but it wasn’t audible because of problems with a microphone. Guards later said he thanked his parents and made no mention of the overdose.

``This shows the absurdity of the situation,″ said the Rev. Bryan Brooks, one of about 20 death penalty protesters outside the prison gates. ``The idea that they’re going to stabilize him and bring him back to be executed is plainly outrageous.″

Brecheen had been strip-searched before he was placed in the cell next to the execution chamber early Thursday. The only ones who came in contact with him after that, prison officials said, were two defense attorneys and prison guards. All will be questioned, authorities said.

Brecheen was a favorite among guards because of his cooperative nature. Some corrections officers testified on his behalf at his clemency hearing, describing how he makes their jobs easier.

ADVERTISEMENT

During his 12 years on death row, Brecheen bathed and fed a cellmate with diabetes, mediated between inmates and guards and earned all possible perks.

Stubbs, who owned a Western clothing store, refused to lend Brecheen $400 about a month before the 1983 murder. Brecheen came to his house and shot Mrs. Stubbs, 59, in the face with a rifle, then came looking for Stubbs, who had a revolver. Stubbs wounded Brecheen in the shoulder, and police followed the trail of blood to the suspect.

Stubbs and 16 other family members and friends came to the prison for the execution.

``It’s a relief just to get this behind us,″ he said.