Oklahoma Death Row Prisoners Lose Appeal
Oklahoma Death Row Prisoners Lose Appeal
The Oklahoma Supreme Court, on April 23, 2014, affirmed in part, reversed in part, and dissolved a stay of execution shielding two condemned prisoners from a death by lethal injection sentence. Appellants Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner filed a declaratory judgement action in the District Court of Oklahoma County the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ (DOC) policies and procedures in connection with their method of implementation of the death by lethal injection sentence. The district court denied most of the appellants’ issues, but did declare the confidentiality provisions of the governing Oklahoma statute to be unconstitutional. Both sides of the issue appealed.
The DOC appealed the unconstitutionality of the secrecy provision of the statute. The Supreme Court construed the statute to protect only the identity of the persons involved with the supply and execution phases of the death penalty protocol, and that no injury was consequent to appellants, reversing the district court’s opinion and holding with DOC.
The prisoners challenged the entire process of the execution protocol under the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act (APA), claiming violation of the provisions therein. The court in analysis cited two exceptions enumerated in the APA that precluded the DOC from the transparency requirements other state entities were required to observe. The APA itself recognized the unfeasibility of melding the intricacies and complexities of a prison environment with its strictures.
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma reversed the district court’s ruling that the confidentiality portion of the DOC’s execution protocol was unconstitutional, affirmed the district court’s denial of the prisoners’ claim of relief, and dissolved a stay of execution imposed while the issues were being decided. See: Lockett v. Evans, 2014 OK 34, P0 (Okla. 2014).
Related legal case
Lockett v. Evans
| Year | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 2014 OK 34, P0 (Okla. 2014) |
| Level | State Supreme Court |