Oklahoma Executions Put On Hold Following Drug Mix-up

All executions in the state of Oklahoma are now indefinitely on hold pending a review of procedures after a mix-up in one of the ingredients in the execution drug cocktail brought on an eleventh-hour emergency stay for death row inmate Richard Glossip.

The order came down less than a day after Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt asked for an indefinite suspension of executions so his office could look into the events that transpired leading up to the stay for Glossip.  

Glossip was scheduled to die at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when it was learned that the Oklahoma Department of Corrections did not have the specific drugs identified in execution protocol.

Gov. Mary Fallin issued a 37-day stay for Glossip after she found out that the execution cocktail of drugs was incorrect.

The cocktail calls for midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. The state had actually received potassium acetate instead.

Glossip's legal team responded to the court's decision, saying, "We are relieved.  We hope more people will come forward with the evidence of Richard's innocence." 

Benjamin Cole and John Marion Grant were both scheduled to be executed in October. Glossip’s execution date was moved to November 6. All of those executions are now on hold, and the state is ordered to file status reports on each case every 30 days until the stay order is lifted.

Cole had also filed an appeal for a stay on his exectuion by reason of insanity. That appeal was denied on Friday.