After Oklahoma's botched execution, here comes the cover-up

There is nothing independent about this "independent investigation"

Fallin
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki))

Gov. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) announced last week that she had ordered an "independent" investigation into the cruel and unusual execution of convicted murderer Clayton Lockett. But there is no reason to think this important inquiry will be remotely "independent," or that it will result in the reforms necessary to fix the systemic problems with lethal injections in Oklahoma.

The governor has ensured a favorable result — whatever that looks like — by ordering the review to be conducted by the state Department of Public Safety, which reports to her within the executive branch. The man in charge of the investigation, Michael Thompson, is a former employee of the Department of Corrections (which also reports to Fallin). He says that he is up to the task and capable of being independent — what else would he say? — but he was present at the Lockett execution. No investigation in which the chief investigator is also a material fact witness is worthy of any credibility or respect. If Thompson were a judge, he would have to recuse himself.

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Andrew Cohen is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, and a legal analyst for 60 Minutes and CBS Radio News. He has covered the law and justice beat since 1997 and was the 2012 winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award for commentary.