Oklahoma to Resume Executions After 9-Month Hiatus

The state of Oklahoma has announced its decision to resume executions following a botched attempt in April that gained national criticism.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a statement this week that after a nine-month hiatus, the state is confident that it can safely resume executions of death row prisoners as early as Thursday, when 47-year-old Charles Frederick Warner will be the first to be executed since the delay.

The state had previously received scrutiny during the botched execution of Clayton Lockett back in April, when the inmate reportedly writhed in pain and appeared to be gasping for air after the three drug cocktail was inserted into his vein.

Although some criticized the state as using a controversial type of drug cocktail that does not effectively sedate the inmate, the state has successfully argued that the botched execution was due to improper training of prison employees, as well as difficulty inserting the needle into Lockett's arm.

Pruitt said in a statement that the state's Department of Corrections "has responded with new protocols that I believe, prayerfully, will provide them more latitude in dealing with exigent circumstances as they arise."

Four of the upcoming inmates scheduled for execution have petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court to have their executions stopped. The inmates' attorneys have argued that the drug cocktail used by states like Florida and Oklahoma has not been proven to successfully render an inmate unconscious.

"There is a well-established scientific consensus that it cannot maintain a deep, comalike unconsciousness," a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court from the inmates' attorneys reads.