Botched Oklahoma Execution Prompts Questions About Lethal Injection

Botched Oklahoma Execution Prompts Questions About Lethal Injection Enlarge this image Amber Hunt/AP Amber Hunt/AP The botched execution of death row inmate Clayton Lockett on Tuesday in Oklahoma is sparking a reassessment of lethal injection. The Washington Post says Lockett's aborted execution and subsequent death by heart attack, along with ongoing controversies over the drugs used and how they are administered, "have begun a whole new phase in the decades-long struggle over capital punishment." Sponsor Message CNN says, referring not only to the execution of Lockett but to that of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire, who in January took 24 minutes to die using a new cocktail of drugs, has brought up the issue of "whether using such drugs in executions constitutes 'cruel and unusual' punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Sponsor Message The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma called Lockett's execution attempt "a science experiment.