Robert Patton, the chief of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, offered a detailed timeline on Thursday of the botched execution of Clayton D. Lockett.
It reveals that on the morning of the execution, Lockett refused to be restrained, so officers administered an electronic shock with a Taser. Once they removed him from his cell at around 5:30 a.m. CT, officers noticed that he had self-inflicted wounds to his right arm.
After a day of constant observation, Lockett was escorted to the execution table at 5:22 p.m. CT. It took a phlebotomist 51 minutes to find a vein, before settling on one in his groin.
We'll let Patton take it from here:
Patton goes on to call for an indefinite stay of other executions and an external investigation into Lockett's execution.
"While I have complete confidence in the abilities and integrity of my Inspector General and his staff, I believe the report will be perceived as more credible if conducted by an external entity," Patton wrote.
As we reported Wednesday, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin tasked the state's Department of Public Safety commissioner with investigating both this execution and the state's execution procedures.
Madeline Cohen, who represents death row inmate Charles Warner — who was also scheduled to be executed on Tuesday — called the execution "excruciatingly inhumane."
"This most recent information about the tortuous death of Mr. Lockett, and the State's efforts to whitewash the situation, only intensifies the need for transparency," Cohen said in a statement.
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