Oklahoma's first execution since a botched one last April appears headed for a delay.
The head of Oklahoma's prisons system won't let an execution proceed until the U.S. Supreme Court says he can.
Charles Frederick Warner was set to die Thursday for the 1997 killing of his roommate's 11-month-old daughter. Warner's lawyers fear the inmate cannot be properly sedated and asked for a stay of execution. State lawyers say its protocols match those of Florida, which has successfully executed nearly a dozen inmates using the same method.
Acting on advice from the state's attorney general, Corrections Director Robert Patton says the execution team will not put Warner on the gurney until after justices weigh in. Patton says the execution team is prepared to "move pretty fast" if a ruling comes.
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