Oklahoma to Have Longest Hiatus Between Executions in Modern Death-Penalty History

Oklahoma will not execute anyone in 2017 and, without an execution protocol in place, cannot seek any execution dates through at least January 2018, marking the longest period of time between executions in the state in the modern era of capital punishment. As part of an agreement in a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s execution procedures, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office may not request execution dates for any prisoner for at least five months after the state adopts a new execution protocol. According to an August 22 report by FOX 25 news in Oklahoma City, the state’s Department of Corrections has not adopted a new protocol and the state attorney general’s office says it has not been notified of any pending changes to execution procedures. Oklahoma—whose 112 executions rank third among U.S. states since the 1970s—has not carried out any execution since January 15, 2015, when it violated its protocol by using an unauthorized drug in the execution of Charles Warner. The only other time there had been a three-year hiatus between executions since the state resumed executions in 1990 was from March 13, 1992 to March 20, 1995, between the executions of Olan Robison and Thomas Grasso. The current halt in executions comes in the wake of three consecutive botched execution attempts in the state. In April 2014, Oklahoma botched the execution of Clayton Lockett, who died of a massive heart attack as prison officials were attempting to call off the execution. In September 2015, the governor halted the execution of Richard Glossip at the last moment after learning that state officials had again obtained the same wrong drug it had used to execute Warner. Since then, a grand jury has issued a scathing report detailing “blatant violations” of the state’s execution protocol, key corrections officials involved in the botched executions have retired, and an independent, bipartisan commission has reviewed the entire capital-punishment system in Oklahoma and recommended a moratorium on executions until the state enacts “significant reforms” at all stages of the state’s death-penalty process.

(P. Cross, “Executions will not resume in Oklahoma in 2017,” KOKH-TV, FOX 25, August 22, 2017.) See Lethal Injection.