The Supreme Court of the United States of America has ruled that lethal injections scheduled in Oklahoma can not proceed using the current formula using the sedative midazolam. The order will put the execution of three murderers on hold until the court decides the case this spring.
The prisoners include Richard Glossip, who had been scheduled to die Thursday night and whose cause has been championed by prominent capital-punishment opponent Sister Helen Prejean.
Richard Glossip, 51, was convicted in 2004 in a murder-for-hire scheme in Oklahoma City of his boss. On Jan. 7, 1997, Oklahoma City officers were called to the Best Budget Inn (now Super 40 Inn) on Council just off of Interstate 40. Inside room 102, they found the badly beaten body of the hotel owner.
Justin Sneed, the hotel maintenance man, confessed to beating Barry Alan Van Treese with a baseball bat. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Sneed told authorities Glossip offered him $10,000 to kill Van Treese. According to court records, Glossip worried he’d soon be fired for embezzling from the hotel.
Glossip maintains his innocence to this day.
Prejean, the anti-biblical activist, is Glossip’s “spiritual adviser” and plans to accompany him to the execution chamber if he loses his appeals. At a press conference in Oklahoma on Tuesday, the nun called for repeal of the death penalty in the state.
“There is no humane way to kill a conscious, imaginative human being,” she said. “We the citizens have our name on that gurney.”
What the sister fails to understand is that the state is obligated by law and by the Lord to see that justice is carried out for the victims of murder. There is no other advocate qualified to carry out such justice. What the court has done is carry on the godless agenda of the left.
At issue was the amount of time it took the murderer Clayton Lockett to die last April. Lockett moaned for 43 minutes after drugs were administered. He eventually died of a heart attack. The state had intended to use a stronger form of the 3 drug cocktail.
In addition to granting Glossip a reprieve, the Supreme Court also issued stays for two other death-row killers — Benajmin Cole and John Grant — who were scheduled for execution in February and March. The Oklahoma attorney general requested the stays until the litigation is resolved.
“We welcome today’s ruling staying executions in Oklahoma until the Court can addresses serious questions about the state’s risky lethal injection protocol,” said defense lawyer Dale Baich.
It was unclear from the court’s ruling if another drug cocktail could be used instead of the one in question.
