Oklahoma executes man despite ongoing legal challenges against lethal injection methods

Bigler Stouffer, 79, is second person executed by lethal injection following state’s moratorium after series of botched attempts

The state of Oklahoma has executed Bigler Stouffer after courts rejected his appeal arguing that lethal injection used to kill him amounts to unconstitutional pain and suffering.

The 79-year-old man was killed at Oklahoma State Penitentiary with a three-drug injection on 9 December, nearly two months after the state executed John Grant, who convulsed and vomited after his lethal injection, the first in the state after a six-year moratorium following a series of botched executions.

(Oklahoma Department of Correctio)

Stouffer was sentenced for the 1985 killing of Linda Reaves, a teacher, and the attempted murder of her boyfriend Doug Ivens. He has maintained his innocence.

Media witnesses confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General John O’ Connor’s account that his execution was “carried out with zero complications.” His reported last words were: “My request is that my father forgive them. Thank you.”

When the state injected Clayton Lockett with the drug midazolam in 2014, he convulsed and spoke before dying of a heart attack nearly one hour later, after prison officials had halted the execution. It was the first time the state used the drug in its three-drug injection. An autopsy later revealed that he was given potassium acetate – instead of potassium chloride – as part of the injection.

That same year, Charles Warner told onlookers “my body is on fire” during his execution, which mistakenly used the same wrong drug.

In 2015, the state paused lethal injections. Until roughly a decade ago, the state was reliably using a lethal injection formula using sodium thiopental, an anaesthetic. A shortage followed, after the lone US manufacturer stopped making it and European companies refused to sell it for use in executions.

Oklahoma and six other states then began using midazolam, as states across the country have turned to more opaque methods of procuring lethal injection drugs, as manufacturers move away from supplying them.

Stouffer’s attorneys have argued that he should be among plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the use of lethal injection protocols.

A federal court judge and appeal court denied his stay of execution, and a final appeal to the US Supreme Court was denied on Thursday morning before he was killed.

Following his request for clemency to the state, attorneys for Oklahoma argued to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board that his “death sentence must be carried out” for his “heinous actions against Doug and Linda, his lies and manipulations in the years to follow, and his complete lack of sorrow and remorse for the hurt he caused.”

Earlier this month, Republican Governor Kevin Stitt rejected a recommendation to commute Stouffer’s sentence to serve life in prison, despite concerns among board members.

The governor did commute the sentence of another man, Julius Jones, after the case drew renewed media scrutiny and protests casting doubt about his guilt in the killing of a man more than 20 years ago.

A judge has issued a stay of execution to Wade Lay pending competency hearings, after he was scheduled to be executed in January. The state is scheduled to execute Donald Grant on 27 January, 2022.

The Independent and the nonprofit Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) have launched a joint campaign calling for an end to the death penalty in the US. The RBIJ has attracted more than 150 well-known signatories to their Business Leaders Declaration Against the Death Penalty - with The Independent as the latest on the list. We join high-profile executives like Ariana Huffington, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as part of this initiative and are making a pledge to highlight the injustices of the death penalty in our coverage.