Governor Halts Execution of Oklahoma Inmate Richard Glossip

Author: Kresta in the Afternoon Published on: October 1, 2015 Published in: Catholic Social Teaching

This Oklahoma Department of Corrections handout photo obtained September 16, 2015 shows death row inmate Richard E. Glossip. Advocates for a US man whose execution is scheduled for September 16 -- among them actress Susan Sarandon and billionaire Richard Branson -- are mobilized in a last-ditch effort to obtain a stay. Richard Glossip, 52, faces lethal injection over the 1997 fatal beating of a motel owner, but has maintained his innocence for nearly 20 years. He and two other plaintiffs unsuccessfully took their cases before the US Supreme Court, demanding a ban on a controversial drug used in lethal injections. But the Supreme Court upheld the use of the drug midazolam in June, saying it does not violate the US Constitution. AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS "/ NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==-/AFP/Getty Images — AFP/Getty Images

Glossip was granted a 37-day stay

(McALESTER, Okla.) — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin postponed an inmate’s scheduled execution Wednesday, saying a drug that the state Department of Corrections had received to carry out a lethal injection didn’t match those listed in the agency’s protocols.

Fallin said prison officials received potassium acetate for use in Richard Glossip’s execution, but Oklahoma’s guidelines call for the use of potassium chloride. She reset Glossip’s execution for Nov. 6, saying it would give the state enough time to determine whether potassium acetate is a suitable substitute, or to find a supply of potassium chloride.

It’s not clear why the error wasn’t caught before Wednesday, or announced until an hour after Glossip’s scheduled execution.

Part of Wednesday’s delay, though, occurred as the Corrections Department waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on Glossip’s claim of innocence. Justices ultimately rejected his appeal.

Glossip was convicted of ordering the 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel that Glossip managed.