The US Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit of three criminals who complained about inhuman fatal injections

In the United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the drug used in Oklahoma in the framework of the procedure for the introduction of deadly injections for the penalty sentenced to the highest degree of punishment is fully consistent with American laws and does not violate the constitutional ban on cruel forms of punishment. Thus, a lawsuit of criminals sentenced to the execution who sought the ban on the midazolam (sedative, which is introduced during the execution, so that the convicted person lost consciousness and does not feel pain in the injection of deaths) was rejected, Reuters reports.

On Monday, June 29, the opinions of nine judges were divided, and the decision was made only with the advantage of one voice (five voted “for”, four “against”). They rejected the lawsuit of three convicts from Oklahoma, who argued that the use of midazolam did not always lead to a complete loss of consciousness, which was fraught during the execution. Judge Samuel Alito, explaining the court decision, emphasized that among other things, the plaintiffs could not offer an alternative to the drug that would make the procedure less painful.

The liberal judge Stefan Breyer, who voted “against”, during the hearing, tried to raise the question of the fact that the death penalty contradicts the US Constitution, but most of the colleagues did not support him.

Public discussion and court hearings on the application of midazolam began in the country after in April 2014 in Oklahom in one of the penitentiary institutions, 38-year-old Lukett Lukett fought in the dying agony in the death penalty. The man was found guilty of rape, abduction and murder of a teenage girl, whom he shot and buried alive into the ground. He was sentenced to death and sent to the Makalister prison. Loketta had to be executed in March last year. But the execution of the sentence was suspended due to the introduction of new drugs for deadly injections. The local court ruled that it is necessary to ensure the sentenced information about the drug that will be used in the execution of the punishment.

Deadly drugs were developed in Oklahom in early 2014 - after the state authorities failed to continue the purchase of substances previously used for execution. In previous years, drugs were purchased in Europe, but the old world countries have a ban on sale, motivating this decision by the fact that their medicines are "intended for other purposes."

The court claim for the provision of the sentenced information was satisfied. The department of correctional institutions said that their "deadly cocktail" consists of three substances. The drug includes midazoleums, which causes an unconscious state, a bromide of the eyelid, which stops breath, and potassium chloride, which stops working of the heart.

The execution of the sentence was scheduled for Tuesday, April 29. However, during the execution, “something went wrong,” wrote Reuters, noting that the criminal was literally "tortured to death." The execution took place with witnesses who emphasized that the man "writhed in pain."

According to official sources, about 10 minutes after the introduction of the injection, Lokett raised his head and began to mumble something inarticulate. The doctors decided to stop the execution of the sentence, led outsiders from the camera and tried to save the patient. However, after half an hour he died. According to doctors, death came from an extensive heart attack.

The spokesman for the Department of correctional institutions of the state of Oklahom said that, according to experts, Vienna "exploded" after the injection at Lokkett. The drug did not work as it was planned. Although the goal of the execution - the death of the prisoner - was achieved, experts argued that the painful procedure is inhumane and violating the US Constitution. The director of the death penalty information center Richard Diter said that the execution of such sentences should be suspended until the state proves that he could fulfill them "competently".

A similar incident occurred last summer in Arizona. 55-year-old American Joseph Wood died almost two hours after the introduction of a deadly injection, although the execution should take no more than 10 minutes. The execution of a man convicted of death for the murder in 1989 of his girlfriend and her father began at 13:52 local time, and he was announced to the dead only at 15:49. His lawyer Dale Beich said that Wood "grabbed the air with his mouth and suffocated for an hour and forty minutes."

The defenders of the “suicide bomber” all this time tried in vain to achieve the suspension of a painful procedure and the introduction of antidote to their client, resting on a violation of the constitutional right of the convict to painless execution.

In March of this year, Gari Gary Gerbert governor signed a law on the legalization of the execution of criminals sentenced to the highest degree of punishment. The state authorities had to go to such measures due to problems with access to drugs that are used for deadly injection. Currently, the death penalty is used in 35 American states, and everywhere, as a rule, the so -called cocktail from various medications is used, which entails death within a few minutes.

The bill on execution was submitted to Senator Paul Ray. According to him, this type of execution is more humane than injections. Utah is currently the only staff where the execution is allowed. However, this will be done with convicts only if there are no drugs for the chemical execution.