This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

An independent autopsy conducted on the Oklahoma prisoner whose execution lasted 43 minutes while he writhed and groaned appears to show the intravenous needles that were supposed to deliver lethal fluids were never correctly inserted.

Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin ordered an investigation into Clayton Lockett’s April 29 execution after the execution, during which Lockett was sometimes conscious and possibly attempting to speak. Corrections director Robert Patton said it appeared Lockett eventually died of a “massive heart attack” after failed resuscitation efforts.



A rare double execution was scheduled for that evening. The execution of the second prisoner, Charles Warner, was called off.

A forensic pathologist hired by Lockett's attorneys to independently examine the body, Dr Joseph Cohen, declined to comment except to confirm the documents were genuine. However, his report appears to show that phlebotomists failed to properly insert intravenous needles near Lockett’s groin. The IV was supposed to deliver a lethal cocktail of three chemicals.

This is despite Cohen’s finding that Lockett had “excellent integrity of peripheral and deep veins for the purpose of achieving venous access”. Cohen said he found bleeding beneath Lockett’s skin, which the report says show attempts to insert an IV



Lockett's execution was delayed while authorities struggled to find an adequate vein. They eventually found one in the groin, and covered the area from witnesses' view with a sheet. In April, an attorney for Warner cited the state's timeline of Lockett's execution and suggested the use of the groin area may have been why the execution went awry.

The report found the “presence of superficial and deep subcutaneous hemorrhages indicative of attempted vascular access for administration of fluids and medications.”



This is the second time Lockett’s body was autopsied. The prisoner’s larynx and heart were retained in Dallas County, Texas, and the pathologist wrote clearly that he couldn’t confirm Lockett died of a heart attack.

Released Friday, the report says more than once that findings are preliminary. Cohen wrote that access to video tapes, photographs, autopsy records, tissue samples, toxicology tests and Oklahoma state lethal injection policies and procedures are needed “to achieve fair and accurate interpretations”.

Last week, the public safety commissioner said the state's official investigation into Lockett's death would be completed within weeks.

Lockett’s execution moved forward after he appealed the secrecy surrounding the source of the three drugs meant to kill him. The state supreme court stayed his execution, but lifted its stay after a state legislator threatened to impeach the judges.

Lockett was convicted of the killing of 19-year-old, Stephanie Neiman, in 1999.

