A prison employee was killed with a "screwdriver" and when the death sentence was carried out, a strange thing happened

A prisoner vomited and convulsed during his execution in the US state of Oklahoma, as his jailers used a toxic mixture suspected to cause severe suffering.

In 2000, John Grant, a 60-year-old black American, was sentenced to death for the murder of a prison worker.

The prison authorities in this conservative southern state, after receiving the green light from the Supreme Court, injected him with three substances and declared him dead at 16:21 on Thursday (21:21 GMT).

This protocol was previously implemented in 2014 and 2015, but the apparent suffering of the prisoners prompted the authorities to suspend executions.

John Grant "began to have convulsions after the first substance was injected," according to journalist Sean Murphy in the American "AB" agency, who followed up on the operation.

He had convulsions about twenty times and vomited several times before giving up his life.

"I attended 14 executions, and I have never seen anything like this," the journalist said.

And soon this incident sparked widespread criticism.

"It appears that Oklahoma has not learned lessons from its past experiences," Robert Dunham, who heads the Death Penalty Information Center (DBIC), told AFP.

"For the third time in a row, the Oklahoma protocol was not duly implemented," said attorney Dale Paech, who has represented several death row inmates, including John Grant.

And he added, "The executions in Oklahoma must be suspended before the start of the trial on this particular issue in February."

"Prisoner Grant's execution took place according to protocols in force in Oklahoma and without any significant problems," said Justin Wolf, director of information for the Prison Service.

The prison administration had confirmed a few days ago that its protocol was "humane and effective" and that the execution could be carried out again.

This controversial protocol is based on administering an analgesic and anesthetic to reduce pain before injecting a lethal dose of potassium chloride.

He was used in 2014 to execute Clayton Lockett, but the latter fought for 43 minutes with apparent pain before he died.

And in 2015, another prisoner, Charles Warner, complained that his "body was burning" before he gave his life, after jailers used a non-conforming product.

The same scenario was about to be repeated in 2015, before the execution was postponed at the last minute.

In light of these incidents, an investigation was opened and the execution was suspended.

In 2020, a new protocol was introduced and executions were scheduled for 2021, the first of which was for John Grant.

Grant had killed with a screwdriver in 1998 a woman working in the prison canteen where he was serving a sentence for participating in an armed robbery.

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