The head of the Department of Public Safety has complied with a federal judge's order to deliver records to attorneys for 21 Oklahoma death-row inmates who have filed a lawsuit to block their executions.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot convened a brief hearing Monday to determine whether Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Thompson had turned over records he was ordered to produce earlier this month. They include documents involving an investigation into the troubled April 29 lethal injection of Clayton Lockett.
Lockett writhed and moaned on the gurney before he was declared dead 43 minutes after his execution began. Since then, the state has renovated its death chamber and developed new execution protocols.
But the death row inmates allege their executions could be cruel and violate their constitutional rights.
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