The state of Oklahoma has botched the third execution in a row after John Marion Grant was killed by lethal injection on Thursday, it has been reported.
You might remember that Grant ordered a humongous last meal before his execution, but it was then delayed because of an appeal regarding one of the drugs that is used in the process, Midazolam.
Some experts say that the drug is not a strong enough sedative, and is therefore inhumane when used for lethal injections.
Of course - as ever - there's a wider debate about whether any form of capital punishment can be considered humane.
60-year-old Grant was jailed and sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of Gay Carter, who was an employee at the Oklahoma prison that Grant was incarcerated in for robbery.
He stabbed her 16 times and she later died of internal bleeding.
According to reporter Sean Murphy of Associated Press, who witnessed the execution, Grant immediately convulsed when injected, then convulsed at least two dozen times, before vomiting all over himself.
Advert
He explained the process here.
Murphy also reported that Grant continued to breathe for several minutes whilst he continued to convulse, then vomited again before the team conducting the execution performed a consciousness check.
At 4:15pm, he was declared unconscious, then was administered with a second round of drugs a minute later.
He stopped breathing at 4:17pm, before he was eventually declared dead - and the execution therefore recorded complete by the Department of Corrections - at 4:21pm.
Murphy said that he'd witnessed 14 executions, but only on this occasion has the inmate vomited.
Grant was the first man to be killed in Oklahoma for five years, after they were put on hold following two other botched executions including one that left an inmate writhing in pain, and another in which the wrong drugs were given.
Another inmate was later waiting to be lead to the death chamber when the officials realised that the same incorrect drugs had once again been delivered.
The state uses three drugs for executions - Midazolam, Vecuronium Bromide, and Potassium Chloride.
The Department of Corrections said in a statement: "Extensive validations and redundancies have been implemented since the last execution in order to ensure that the process works as intended."
Director Scott Crow said: "The Department of Corrections has addressed concerns regarding carrying out the death penalty and is prepared to follow the will of the people of Oklahoma, as expressed in state statute, and the orders of the courts by carrying out the execution of inmates sentenced to death by a jury of their peers."
Currently, 44 inmates are awaiting execution in the state.
Following the execution, Grant's lawyer issued a statement.
Sarah Jernigan said: "John Grant took full responsibility for the murder of Gay Carter, and he spent his years on death row trying to understand and atone for his actions more than any other client I have worked with.
"However we must not forget Oklahoma's hand in this tragic story. When John stole to feed and clothe himself and his siblings, Oklahoma labelled him a delinquent instead of a desperate and traumatized child left to fend for himself.
"John wasn't even a teenager yet when Oklahoma sent him to the first of several state-run youth detention facilities.
"Oklahoma ultimately dumped John onto the streets with no skills and no support for the mental illness that was exacerbated by years of being both the victim of and witness to beatings, rapes, and extended periods of solitary confinement, amongst other abuses.
"When he committed a robbery at age seventeen, Oklahoma sent him to an adult prison, subjecting him to further victimization, as later documented in a class action lawsuit."
She said that 'incompetent lawyers' provided by the state had also let Grant down.
Jernigan said that they 'had no business handling a case with the ultimate punishment at stake'.
She concluded: "I pray John Grant is at peace now, and I pray his death brings peace and closure to Ms. Carter's family."
Carter's daughter - who said she would attend the execution - said: "My theory about the death penalty is there are some crimes that are so reprehensible that that is the ultimate option, because it is not about revenge.
"It is not about revenge. It is about keeping another person safe.
"I want to make sure that this does not happen to anybody else, that nobody has to go through what I and my family has had to go through.
"The main thing it would have done for me, I think, is so I could say, 'Mom, he's not going to hurt anybody else', because that's what this is about, not letting him hurt someone else."
Featured Image Credit: PA/Oklahoma Department of CorrectionsTopics: Death Penalty, US News, crime, Prison
