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An hour before the execution in Oklahoma, Florida is expected
to execute a man for murdering a Pensacola banker and sexually
assaulting his wife in a 1993 home invasion. The Florida
execution is planned for 6 p.m. Eastern Time and the one in
Oklahoma for 6 p.m. Central Time.
Oklahoma is set to execute child rapist and murderer Charles
Warner after spending months revising how it implements the
death penalty to prevent death chamber shortcomings.
Lawyers for Warner are seeking a halt to the proceedings, saying
the new protocols are deeply flawed. They have raised concern
about the secrecy surrounding the source of the lethal injection
cocktail and what is in the mix.
One drug in question that will be used in Oklahoma and Florida
is the sedative midazolam, which some experts say cannot achieve
the level of unconsciousness required for surgery and therefore
is unsuitable for executions. Both states say the drug is
effective and their chemical combinations are appropriate.
"We know that midazolam does not satisfy the constitutional
requirement of preventing cruel and unusual suffering and that
it does not reliably anesthetize prisoners during executions,"
said Dale Baich, an attorney for Oklahoma death row prisoners.
In April, Oklahoma inmate death row inmate Clayton Lockett, who
received midazolam, was seen by witnesses twisting on the death
row gurney after troubles with the IV caused the lethal
injection mix to be improperly administered.
Officials halted the execution about 15 minutes after it began,
but Lockett died about a half hour later from toxic chemicals
that accumulated in his tissue.
The inmate to be executed in Florida, Johnny Kormondy, 42, has
spent almost half of his life on death row. He was convicted in
the fatal shooting of Gary McAdams and the rape of his wife when
the couple came home from her 20th high school reunion on July
11, 1993.
His execution would be the 21st carried out under Governor Rick
Scott, trying the mark set by former Governor Jeb Bush. Bush
served eight years, while Scott is just starting his second
four-year term in office.
(Writing by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Eric
Walsh)
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