"Oklahoma to go ahead with double execution after drug secrecy tussle" is AP coverage by Sean Murphy, via ABC News.
The Oklahoma attorney general says the department of corrections is ready and willing to carry out the state's first double execution since 1937.
In a filing with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, 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. Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner are set to be executed at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively on Tuesday, the filing said.
The attorney general wrote that barring an intervention from the Court of Criminal Appeals, the executions will proceed as scheduled.
Today's Tulsa World reports, "State Rep. Christian won't drop effort to impeach five Oklahoma Supreme Court justices," by Barbara Hoberock.
A lawmaker said Thursday that he will pursue the impeachment of five Oklahoma Supreme Court justices, despite the dissolution of execution stays issued late Wednesday.
Rep. Mike Christian, R-Oklahoma City, filed articles of impeachment Wednesday saying the state Supreme Court acted outside of its scope when five of the nine members voted to issue stays for death row inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner.
Christian said staying an execution date is the exclusive domain of the Court of Criminal Appeals.
And:
House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, said Christian's resolution will be reviewed to determine if there is merit to move forward with impeachment proceedings.
"These are very serious charges being put forward and are not to be taken lightly," Hickman said.
House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, said what occurred didn't rise to the level of impeachment.
"Oklahoma set for possible double execution," is by Graham Lee Brewer for the Oklahoman.
Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said officials are not clear at this point exactly when in the day each execution will take place.
“We are planning for any eventuality,” Massie said.
Executions in Oklahoma are typically performed at 6 p.m., although the Corrections Department is not legally bound to perform executions at any specific time of the day.
Additionally, Massie said Corrections officials cannot confirm both executions will take place on Tuesday.
“We’re having those discussions,” Massie said. He would not elaborate on whether other state agencies or offices were involved in those discussions.
Massie said no matter when the inmates are put to death, the state plans to use the mixture of the manufactured drugs midazolam, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride that the attorney general has recommended.
"Oklahoma executions back on, as court rules to keep lethal-drug sources secret," is by Eliott C. McLaughlin of CNN.
Attorney Seth Day, who represents both men, called the ruling unacceptable and told CNN affiliate KFOR that there was no way to know if the prisoners' executions "would be carried out in a constitutional and humane manner."
"It's not even known whether the lethal injection drugs to be used were obtained legally, and nothing is known about their source, purity, or efficacy, among other questions," he told the station. "Oklahoma's extreme secrecy surrounding lethal injection undermines our courts and democracy."
The Nation posts, "Did Political Pressure Push Oklahoma’s Supreme Court to Lift a Stay of Execution?" It's by Steven Hsieh.
State supreme courts typically take weeks or months to rule on constitutional challenges. Yesterday’s decision took a little over forty-eight hours. The timing of the opinion has raised suspicions that the court was motivated by political pressures.
“I can only conclude that the Supreme Court caved in the face of unconstitutional and uncalled for attacks by the legislature and the governor,” said Madeline Cohen, an attorney representing Mr. Warner.
Governor Mary Fallin issued an executive order Tuesday contesting the Court’s “constitutional authority” to issue a stay of execution, even though the Supreme Court only acted after Oklahoma’s top criminal court denied jurisdiction over the matter. And just hours before the Supreme Court issued its opinion, Republican state Representative Mike Christian introduced a resolution to impeach the five justices who voted in favor of delaying the executions, accusing them of “willful neglect of duty.”
"Remember that moment of death penalty sanity in Oklahoma? It went away," is Scott Martelle's post at the Los Angeles Times Opinion LA blog.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court made the right decision Tuesday in issuing the stay until those issues could be digested. A short time later, though, Gov. Mary Fallin announced that the Supreme Court lacked the authority to stay the execution, and issued her own seven-day stay (after which Lockett presumably would be executed). Then a legislator introduced a bill to start the impeachment process against the Supreme Court judges who voted to stay the execution.
Late Wednesday, the Supreme Court reached the hasty -- and wrong -- conclusion that Lockett and another condemned murderer, Charles Warner, do not have a right to know how the killing drugs were made. The court simultaneously lifted its stay of execution, allowing a day or so for another appeal before the decision is final. The governor announced Thursday that the two men would be executed Tuesday.
So the judicial process appears to have been hijacked by the political process, leading to a rushed decision that two men should be killed by the state with unvetted drugs, and with a crass disregard for constitutional rights.
Regardless of your stance on the death penalty, these are not the acts of a deliberative judicial system.
Earlier coverage from Oklahoma begins at the link.
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