October 9, 2015
WASHINGTON (AFP) - An inmate executed in the US state of Oklahoma in January was killed using the wrong drug, according to an autopsy report made public Thursday.
The revelation follows a decision by the state's governor last month to stay the execution of another convict, Richard Glossip, amid questions over the same drug.
The newly released autopsy report added to growing questions about execution methods, and Governor Mary Fallin confirmed Thursday she was delaying all executions until those concerns could be allayed.
"Until we have complete confidence in the system, we will delay any further executions," Fallin said.
Charles Warner, killed by Oklahoma on January 15, was given potassium acetate rather than potassium chloride, according to the autopsy report, first obtained by the The Oklahoman newspaper.
Although witnesses at the January execution said Warner, who was 47 when he died, showed no physical signs of distress, he took 18 minutes to die and reportedly said, "My body is on fire."
The autopsy report revealed that although the syringes with which Warner was injected were labeled "potassium chloride," the box from which the vials used to fill the syringes were taken was labeled "potassium acetate."
Potassium chloride is supposed to cause heart failure, and experts say the products are not interchangeable.
Warner had been originally scheduled to die in April 2014, on the same night of the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, who took 40 minutes to die and prompted Oklahoma officials to investigate their execution methods.
That incident brought new attention to the state's execution methods.
On September 30, Fallin issued a last-minute stay of execution for Glossip to address questions about the use of potassium acetate in his three-drug lethal injection cocktail and ensure it complies with court-approved protocols.
Her executive order said the stay was granted to allow time to check on the viability of the substitute drug, "and/or obtain potassium chloride" -- the drug called for in the protocol.
"We cannot trust Oklahoma to get it right or tell the truth," attorney Dale Baich, who represents several Oklahoma death row inmates, including Glossip said, said Thursday.
Fallin said her office will work with the state Department of Corrections to resolve the mix-up over the drugs.
