OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma death-row inmate who was executed last week described in a letter his shock and disbelief on the day the state conducted a troubled execution shortly before the inmate was originally set to be executed.
The letter from Charles Frederick Warner to The Oklahoman describes the night of the April 29 execution of Clayton Lockett. Lockett writhed on the gurney, moaned and tried to lift his head after he'd been declared unconscious. Warner's execution was then put on hold.
Warner wrote that his initial shock and disbelief turned into "a bit of a let down" and that he "was ready to see Jesus" and family members who had died.
An investigation found an intravenous line into Lockett failed. The execution was stopped, but he died shortly afterward.