---
title: 'NEW VOICES: Citing Innocence, Misconduct, Creator of Lethal Injection Protocol Calls Death Penalty "Problematic"'
description: 'Dr. Jay Chapman, the Oklahoma medical examiner who created the three-drug lethal injection protocol that was used from 1982 to 2010, recently told The…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-citing-innocence-misconduct-creator-of-lethal-injection-protocol-calls-death-penalty-problematic'
section: news
date: '2015-05-01T15:42:39-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:40:49-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! Dr. Jay Chapman, the Oklahoma medical examiner who created the three-drug lethal injection protocol that was used from 1982 to 2010, recently told *The Guardian* that he has doubts about the death penalty.“I am ambivalent about the death penalty – there have been so many incidents of prosecutorial misconduct, or DNA testing that has proved a prisoner’s innocence. It’s problematic," Chapman said. He said he believed lethal injection would be a more humane method of execution, "At that time we put animals to death more humanely than we did human beings – so the idea of using medical drugs seemed a much better alternative.” He found it odd that his name has become so closely associated with lethal injection, saying, “This wasn’t my field, and it wasn’t my purpose in life – I’m a forensic pathologist and my main purpose was to set up a medical examiner’s system for Oklahoma, which is what I did.” Ultimately, concerns about wrongful convictions have given him qualms about capital punishment: “I’ve done autopsies for 50 years and I know what people are capable of doing to others. There are some criminals who have no redeeming features and who will never be rehabilitated – in those cases I would support the death penalty. But I’ve also seen the misconduct that can occur, and the problem is: how do you sort out one from the other?”

(E. Pilkington, "['It's problematic': inventor of US lethal injection reveals death penalty doubts,](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/supreme-court-lethal-injection-inventor-death-penalty-doubts)" The Guardian, April 29, 2015; Photo credit: Lianne Milton for The Guardian.) See [**New Voices**](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/new-voices) and [**Lethal Injection**](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/lethal-injection).