OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma would become the first state to execute condemned inmates using nitrogen gas under a proposal that will be presented next week to a legislative committee.

Rep. Mike Christian, a former highway patrolman and a staunch supporter of the death penalty, said he will unveil details of the plan Tuesday during an interim study of the House Judiciary Committee. Christian, R-Oklahoma City, said he intends to draft a bill for next year's Legislature, which begins in February.

"We've had so many problems with lethal injection," Christian said. "I think this is just a more humane method, and I think it will be well received."

Christian requested the study after Oklahoma's lethal injection in April of Clayton Lockett, who writhed on the gurney, clenched his teeth and moaned before being pronounced dead about 43 minutes after his execution began. An investigation by the state Department of Public Safety released earlier this month blamed the problems on the poor placement of an intravenous line, and state prison officials are developing new lethal injection protocols.