Oklahoma’s governor is demanding a review of a botched lethal injection on Tuesday night after witnesses reported the prisoner kicking and gasping when he was supposedly sedated prior to being executed. The White House has criticized the procedure, calling it inhumane, and Oklahoma has delayed a second execution that had been scheduled for the same night. We discuss the history of executions with Austin Sarat, author of “Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America’s Death Penalty.”
Faulty Execution Raises Questions Over Lethal Injections
The lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison. (Photo: Scott Shafer/KQED)
Guests:
Austin Sarat, professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College and author of "Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty"
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