Lawsuit In Clayton Lockett Execution Claims 'Biological Experimentation'
DENVER (CBS4) - A noted Denver attorney filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of the estate of an inmate executed in Oklahoma.
David Lane, who has gained prominence with anti-death penalty groups, sued Oklahoma's governor, corrections officials, the manufacturer of the drugs used in the execution and a physician, among others.
Clayton Lockett's execution on April 29 drew international attention because it took 43 minutes for him to die at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
"The doctor that participated in this execution was essentially engaged in human medical experimentation on an unwilling prisoner," Lane said.
The lawsuit claims Lockett attempted to rise from the table and spoke 14 minutes into the procedure.
Drugs not used in previous executions were administered in what the suit calls "a program of biological experimentation on captive and unwilling human subjects."
"I just believe that he died from suffering, and I don't believe it's right and I think they should pay," Lockett's brother, Gary, told CBS4.
Officials cited vein failure.
"There was some concern at that time that the drugs were not having the effect, so the doctor observed the line and determined that the line had blown," Robert Patton, the director of Oklahoma's Department of Corrections, said in April.
The lawsuit claims the IV connection to Lockett failed.
That botched Oklahoma execution could be brought up in capital cases in Colorado, including those of Aurora theater shooting defendant James Holmes and Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap.