Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in January 2015.
“My body is on fire.”
Oklahoma executed Charles Warner, who was convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-month-old girl, in its first execution since the botched lethal injection of Clayton Lockett.
In 2003, Warner was convicted of the first-degree rape and murder of his then girlfriend’s 11-month-old daughter in the Summer of 1997.
The state of Oklahoma sentenced him to be executed on the same night as Clayton Lockett. However, after Lockett began moaning and writhing on the gurney after he was declared to be unconscious, the state delayed all executions until they investigated the cause of the botched execution.
In response to the mismanaged lethal injection, Oklahoma increased the amount of sedative used by five times, mirroring the recipe that Florida used in nearly a dozen successful executions.
Before the injection, Warner was asked for his final words to which he responded, “Before I give my final statement, I’ll tell you they poked me five times and it feels like acid.
“I’m sorry for all of the pain I caused,” Warner continued. “I’m not a monster. I didn’t do everything they said I did. I love people. I love my family. I love Jesus.”
He went on to thank his mother and sister for their support, and said to “tell my baby girl she means the world to me.”
According to NBC, after the first of the three drugs were administered, Warner said, “My body is on fire. No one should go through this. I’m not afraid to die.” He showed no other signs of physical distress afterwards.
He was declared dead at 7:28 p.m Central Time.
Madeline Cohen, Warner’s attorney, was there to witness the executions and said that due to a second drug, a paralytic, there was no way to tell if Warner was suffering or not.
“Because Oklahoma injected Mr. Warner with a paralytic tonight, acting as a chemical veil, we will never know whether he experienced the intense pain of suffocation and burning that would result from injecting a conscious person with rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride,” Cohen said.
Sources: The Huffington Post, NBC, CNN
