Obama: Botched Execution In Oklahoma ‘Deeply Troubling’

President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel participate in a joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 2, 2014. Obama and Merkel are putting on a display of... President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel participate in a joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 2, 2014. Obama and Merkel are putting on a display of trans-Atlantic unity against an assertive Russia, even as sanctions imposed by Western allies seem to be doing little to change Russian President Vladimir Putin's reasoning on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS
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President Barack Obama said Friday that he found the botched execution of an inmate in Oklahoma earlier this week “deeply troubling.”

“What happened in Oklahoma is deeply troubling,” he said in a joint press conference at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “The individual who was subject to the death penalty had committed heinous crimes, terrible crimes.”

“And I’ve said in the past that there are certain circumstances in which a crime is so terrible that the application of the death penalty may be appropriate — mass killings, the killings of children,” he added. “But I’ve also said that in the application of the death penalty in this country we have seen significant problems. Racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty … All of these I think do raise significant questions about how the death penalty is being applied and this situation in Oklahoma I think just highlights some of the significant problems there.”

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) ordered an independent review of the state’s execution procedures after the inmate, Clayton Lockett, died of a heart attack 43 minutes after his execution began. Obama said Friday that he plans to discuss the country’s death penalty further with Attorney General Eric Holder.

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Notable Replies

  1. In Carl Hiassen’s book Kick-Ass, which is a compendium of his newspaper columns, Hiassen wrote of a botched Florida execution that revealed the state to be full of rednecks so hopeless that they couldn’t even electrocute a man without setting him on fire.

    How proud do you think the Sunshine State must be now that they have Okies for company?

  2. I can see Palin and the other ignorant worshipers now: This is a necessary an integral part of the Baptism process to convince people they should not kill or bear false witness.

  3. I’m still deeply troubled by the botched wedding party drone strike, personally.

  4. In Utah condemned persons can choose hanging or the firing squad. Perhaps we should ALL reconsider that.

  5. I find that a huge part of this scandal is Gov. Fallin overriding OK supreme court’s stay of these executions and then threatening the judges who did not rule her way with impeachment. This woman is truly a dictator; how do her actions stand, legally? And why did the court cave to her wishes?

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