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.

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