OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – An Oklahoma judge has tossed out the state’s death penalty law.
Why, you inject? We mean ask!
Because death row inmates are currently blocked from learning the names of the companies that manufacture the drugs used in their upcoming executions.
Yea, bet that’s got them up night worried. “Gee…what company is making my death drug?!”
It’s a decision that could affect the state’s ability to carry out the death penalty.
The case centers on two death row inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner. Both were supposed to be executed this month.
Instead, their sentences were pushed back to April because the state was having trouble getting two of the three drugs needed for the lethal cocktail.
Lawyers for the inmates argued the untested and undisclosed combinations could cause undo suffering, violating the U.S. Constitution’s 8th amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.
This decision comes at a time when more states are having trouble getting their hands on the lethal chemicals used in executions because of restrictions drug makers put on them.
There’s a problem to ingest.
