By Graham Lee Brewer
The Oklahoman
OKLAHOMA CITY — A convicted murderer who is the next man scheduled to die by lethal injection in Oklahoma has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for a six-month stay of execution.
Charles Frederick Warner, 46, was scheduled to die April 29, but his execution was stayed just hours beforehand, after a botched execution.
An autopsy and an investigation into what happened that night are underway. State officials say the investigation is likely to take months, and no executions will be performed until they are completed.
Warner’s execution was rescheduled for May 13.
His execution was stayed after the lethal injection of Clayton Derrell Lockett, 38, on the evening of April 29. Minutes after being pronounced unconscious, Lockett rose up from the gurney, his body shuddered, his feet kicked, and he mumbled unintelligibly. He died of an apparent heart attack 43 minutes into the execution.
Attorneys for Lockett and Warner have called for an independent investigation not tied to a state agency “in order to understand exactly what went wrong in Tuesday’s horrific execution, and restore any confidence in the execution process.”
Lockett was sentenced to death for shooting Stephanie Neiman, 19, before having an accomplice bury her alive in 1999.
The execution helped fuel a debate over the use of capital punishment in the United States. Last week, President Barrack Obama called Lockett’s execution “deeply troubling” and announced the U.S. attorney general has been asked to look into problems surrounding the application of the death penalty.
Warner’s execution was delayed for two weeks by Gov. Mary Fallin moments after Lockett’s lethal injection was halted by state Corrections Department officials.
Warner received the death penalty for raping and killing his girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter, Adrianna Waller, in 1997.
The criminal appeals court had refused to issue Lockett and Warner stays in recent weeks. The inmates had asked the court multiple times to delay their lethal injections, as they sued the state over an execution secrecy law.
In the petition for a stay, attorneys for Warner also note state Corrections Department Director Robert Patton asked for an temporary moratorium on executions until the investigation is complete and procedure can be evaluated and updated.
“It is clear that the Department of Corrections, the agency in charge of carrying out executions in Oklahoma, believes it requires an indefinite stay until the protocol can be reviewed and changed, and staff properly trained,” attorneys wrote.
In a monthly column published Monday, Fallin said until the investigation into Tuesday’s lethal injection is complete and Patton has had a chance to implement new death penalty protocol, the state will delay its executions. Warner’s is the only execution scheduled by the state.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said his office does not plan to set any further execution dates until the investigation is complete.