US prisoner John Grant ‘convulses and vomits’ as he is executed in Oklahoma
- Oklahoma resumes execution by lethal injection after six-year hiatus
- Witnesses describe dying moments of convicted murderer John Grant
A convicted murderer vomited and experienced convulsions as he was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Oklahoma, witnesses said.
John Grant, 60, was the first inmate to be put to death in Oklahoma since a series of botched executions led to a temporary moratorium on capital punishment in the state.
Grant, who is black, was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of a white prison cafeteria worker, Gay Carter.
His execution had been put on hold by a lower court because of concerns about the drug cocktail being used to carry out the execution, but the conservative-leaning Supreme Court lifted the last-minute stay and allowed it to go ahead.
On Thursday, before the curtain was raised to allow witnesses to see into the execution chamber, Grant could be heard yelling, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” He delivered a stream of profanities before the lethal injection started.
He was declared unconscious about 15 minutes after the first of three drugs was administered and declared dead about six minutes after that.