Doctor Accused of Torture, 'Medical Experimentation' over Botched Execution

The family of Clayton Lockett, an Oklahoma death row inmate who in April was killed in a botched execution, is suing those who participated in his death, including a board-certified physician, saying they violated numerous treaties including those established at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials.

In his lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, Gary Lockett, charged that the “brutal” execution of his brother, which took nearly an hour, “was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a violation of innumerable standards of international law, and a violation of elementary concepts of human decency.”

After the administration of the controversial and untested drug midazolam, Lockett—as described in the court documents—”writhed in agony, convulsed, gasped for breath, moaned repeatedly and took approximately 43 minutes to die at the hands of the Defendants.”