An inmate was put to death via lethal injection in Oklahoma, effectively ending its six-year execution moratorium. The inmate was executed on Thursday and died after convulsing and vomiting in front of shocked spectators.
John Marion Grant was executed for the 1998 stabbing and murder of a prison cafeteria worker. The 60-year-old was strapped to a gurney inside the execution room before he was administered a cocktail of chemicals.
When the curtains were raised to let witnesses see the execution, Grant shouted profanities. Grant reportedly began convulsing and vomiting after he was given the first drug, a sedative called midazolam. Attendants had to wipe off the vomit from his face and neck before they could administer the other drugs. He later died after the three drugs were injected.
Robert Dunham, executive director of the nonpartisan Death Penalty Information Center, said he had never heard or seen death row inmates convulsing or vomiting during an execution. Experts said that such events do happen but are extremely rare.
Grant was found guilty of killing cafeteria worker Gay Carter by stabbing her 16 times with a handmade shank while serving a 130-year jail term for three violent robberies. In 1999, he was sentenced to death.
Oklahoma carried out its third consecutive botched execution with the killing of John Marion Grant, who convulsed and vomited after being injected with lethal drugs. https://t.co/FlBlFwIWz3 — HuffPost (@HuffPost) October 28, 2021
Grant's responses to the medications were not addressed by the Oklahoma attorney general or governor. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections confirmed in an email that the execution "was carried out in compliance with Oklahoma Department of Corrections' regulations and without problems."
Grant was the first person in Oklahoma to be executed by lethal injections following a series of botched deadly injections in 2014 and 2015.
Oklahoma had one of the busiest execution chambers in the country until 2014 and 2015 when botched executions forced a de facto moratorium. In September 2015, it was found that prison officials had received the wrong chemicals hours after they were scheduled to execute Richard Glossip. It was then discovered that in January 2015, the same incorrect chemical was used to kill another convict.
Oklahoma pushed forward with administering lethal injections after the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-3 ruling, overturned stays of execution issued by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday for Grant and another death row prisoner, Julius Jones.
Grant's bid for clemency was refused twice by the state's Pardon and Parole Board, including a 3-2 decision last month to reject a recommendation that his life be spared.
