OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals said Friday it will not delay the schedule for putting two inmates to death, paving the way for the state’s first double execution since 1937.
The court denied a request for a stay that had been filed earlier in the day by attorneys for Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner. They had also asked the court to find that the state Supreme Court ruled in error earlier in the week when it said the inmates aren’t entitled to more information about the drugs to be used in the execution. The appeals court also denied that request.
Lockett and Warner are set to be executed at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, on Tuesday.
In a filing with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals also made Friday, the attorney general said there was no need to change execution dates because of an executive order this week by the governor, and the state was prepared to carry out the executions as scheduled in the governor’s order.
The attorney general had written that barring an intervention from the Court of Criminal Appeals, the executions will proceed as scheduled.
Lawyers for the inmates had asked the state earlier Friday for more information on the execution drugs. They sent a letter Friday requesting that the attorney general’s office comply with the state Supreme Court ruling they say compels it to identify and verify the drugs, and prove they are unadulterated, uncontaminated, unexpired and legally obtained.
In that ruling Wednesday, the state’s top court said a secrecy statute protects the identity of the source of execution drugs but “not the identity of the drug or drugs to be used in executions.”
The attorney general’s office responded Friday, saying they did not agree with the interpretation of the inmates’ lawyers, and the office provided all the information that’s legally required.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.