The execution of John Grant (April 12, 1961 – October 28, 2021) took place in the U.S. state of Oklahoma by means of lethal injection.
In 2021, following a series of legal challenges to lethal injection, executions resumed in the state, starting with Grant.
His execution generated significant media attention and controversy due to his negative reaction to the lethal injection drugs, particularly the sedative midazolam.
Grant and his siblings grew up in abject poverty in a home with a dirt floor and no running water.
[7] A 1981 report from the television program 20/20 chronicled the sexual abuse and torture that often occurred in Oklahoma's juvenile justice system.
[7] At the time of the murder for which Grant was executed, he had been imprisoned at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, Oklahoma, since December 30, 1980, when he was 19 years old.
[2][9] Lethal injections typically involve a three-drug cocktail consisting of an anesthetic (typically sodium thiopental), a muscle relaxant to paralyze an inmate's muscles and cease breathing, and potassium chloride to stop the inmate's heart and ultimately cause death.
[10][11] However, in the late 2000s, the company providing sodium thiopental to US states for execution stopped making the drug, and European manufacturers refused to sell sodium thiopental for use in executions, leading states that rely on lethal injection to face drug shortages.
During the execution, Warner reportedly said, "It feels like acid," and "My body is on fire," but otherwise did not show any other signs of physical distress.
In June 2015, in a 5–4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's usage of midazolam, after which the state scheduled the execution of Richard Glossip to take place in September 2015.
[12] An autopsy on Charles Warner's and Clayton Lockett's bodies revealed that the state had used potassium acetate during each of their executions as well, in violation of their protocol.
"[17] A grand jury consisting of Oklahomans from several counties reviewed Oklahoma's execution protocol and recommended several revisions.
[18] On February 13, 2020, Oklahoma announced intentions to resume carrying out executions by lethal injection while following the recommended protocol revisions, stating that although they had explored nitrogen gas asphyxiation as a potential substitute, the state had found a "reliable supply of drugs" for future lethal injections.
The revised protocol still included the usage of midazolam, alongside the muscle relaxant vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
It sought to challenge Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol in an effort to have it declared unconstitutionally cruel and unusual, in violation of the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment.
[19] While the challenge to lethal injection was heard by Federal Judge Stephen P. Friot in February 2022, meaning that the other 26 inmates would not be executed until the challenge was heard, Friot ruled that the executions of those inmates who had refused to propose an alternative could move forward prior to the hearing.
One, in 2014, was unanimously rejected after Grant's attorneys claimed that his murder of Carter was motivated by an alleged romantic relationship that he had with her.
"[7] Grant's final appeal to Oklahoma's pardons and paroles board was in early October 2021, weeks before his death.
Oklahoma officials countered by stating that Grant's conviction and sentence had been upheld by numerous courts.
[23] Michael Graczyk, a retired Associated Press reporter who still covers executions for the organization on a freelance basis, has witnessed the death penalty being carried out about 450 times.
[22][25] Oklahoma paid an anesthesiologist, Dr. Ervin Yen, to observe the execution from a separate witness room behind the media.
Dr. Jeremy Shelton of the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's office found that Grant had inhaled vomit into his airway.
Lethal injection experts have likened the sensation to waterboarding, a form of torture, and described it as "drowning, asphyxia, and terror."