Court Lengthens Period Between Executions Despite Judge's Message To 'Suck It Up'

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is extending the time between death row executions to 90 days at the request of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Department of Corrections Director Stephen Harp due to the strain on prison staff.

The plan set in motion in 2021 was to eliminate 58-percent of our state's death row by executing 25 people over a three-year span.

“Suck it up,” that’s what Judge Gary Lumpkin told DOC officials in a hearing over whether to extend the time between executions. But in a split decision this week the court moved the interval from 30, to 60, now to 90 days between lethal injections.

"The day of an execution affects not only those directly involved in the execution, but the entirety of Oklahoma State Penitentiary, which goes into a near complete lockdown until the execution is completed," Harp said.

This week, three of the five members of the court of criminal appeals agreed with the attorney general and DOC, extending the interval to 90 days. Two judges wrote dissenting opinions, including Judge Lumpkin.

“This stuff needs to stop and people need to suck it up realize they’ve got a hard job to do and get it done in a timely proficient professional way,” Lumpkin said at a March hearing. “I’m not buying the sympathy stuff on behalf of the people who have to do their job.”

In another change, the five judges agreed unanimously the state should request one execution date at a time rather than scheduling six inmates at a time, as the state has recently. In it’s opinion, the court said that should reduce a chain of backups so that justice may be served.

“Attorney General Drummond respects the Court’s ruling and will continue to support the families of victims in every way possible as they await justice for their lost loved ones,” Drummond’s office told News 9 in a statement.

The next execution is scheduled for June 6th for inmate Wade Lay who tried to rob a Tulsa bank in 2004 and shot and killed the security guard on duty.