Oklahoma delays all executions for 6 months

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Oklahoma delays all executions for 6 months
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Following the massively controversial botched execution of Clayton Lockett last month, Oklahoma's top appeals court said Thursday it would halt all executions for the next six months so the state can conduct an investigation. After a deeply flawed legal and political battle over the transparency of the lethal cocktail that would be used to kill Lockett, the convicted murderer and rapist was put to death. But the drug did not work effectively, resulting in a gruesome 40-minute ordeal that has made Oklahoma a target of national criticism.

Charles Warner, who was originally set to be executed the same night as Lockett, will now be put to death on Nov. 13.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More

Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.