i've witnessed three other executions before clayton locket's. you know, the drugs that were previously used can no longer be found in enough quantities and so they're looking for alternatives. ma daz lamb is the common denominator in ohio. the experts have said it is a sedative, not an anesthetic. probably not appropriate to truly anesthetize someone before a proper drug is given to kill them essentially. oklahoma has it in the protocol. oklahoma used it on clayton locketh for the first time. arizona, same situation. ohio, same situation. it's also been reported to have a problem in florida. i think they're going to have to re-examine whether this drug can be used in executions effectively. >> you can't exactly test it beforehand. how do they determine what combinations they can use? on who and how? >> that's one of the problems. you have prison officials and in some cases prosecutors sort of trial and error and using what other states are doing with very little help from medical officials who don't want to be any part of the process. >> it's ve

the april execution of clayton locket where it took 51 minutes to find a suitable vein or the ohio execution that say dennis mcguire writhing on the gurney with fists clenched? is lethal injection more humane and less risky than the hanging and firing squad. we begin with a reporter for tucson news now that witnessed the execution of joseph wood. welcome. what are your expectations going into the death chamber? did you prepare before going in? >> this was the first time i was sent to watch an execution. i wanted to prepare myself and wanted to see what it would be like. i talked to colleagues who had experienced executions themselves by lethal injection. they said it was for the most part very clinical. they said usually the procedure and the person dying takes about 10 minutes. that certainly wasn't the case this time. so through that research it was quite not what i -- it wasn't what i expected when i got there. >> tell us what you did see once the condemned man was strapped to the gurney and prepared for execution. >> the first 10 minutes appeared to be fine. they strapped him down. his e

the state of oklahoma put the practice on hold after the controversial death of clayton locket.ay remember officials say it took the convicted killer 43 minutes to die after he was given a dose of three lethal drugs. officials are still investigating what went wrong, all of this reigniting the debate over the death penalty in the u.s. >>> still to come for you on cnn, dozens are killed in another plane crash. this one in taiwan and we'll look at why weather conditions may have played a role. >> welcome back. a plane crash in taiwan killed dozens of people, but there were some survivors. let's get more now on the weather conditions during the time of this fatal accident. >> this is a storm that you had been tracking for the past week. what do we know about what it did yesterday and what it's doing now? >> the storm system on the move across china is beginning to fall apart. but the time of this incident, the crash occurring into the afternoon and evening hours, the storm system was exiting the area. a perspective of what we're talking about with the typhoon, a category 2 type equ

. >> two months later in oklahoma, convicted killer clayton locket died of an apparent heart affect 43 minutes after a new lethal combination injection failed to kill him. that helped convince previous advocates of capital punishment including governor mark white to ask for a moratorium. >> some call it a botched execution, that was cruel and inhumane treatment. the spca does a better job than we're doing in oklahoma and other states. >> in putting animals to death. >> that's right. >> the governor ordered a formal review of last night's execution, but opponents of capital punishment say it is only the latest example of state said experimenting on condemned prisoners because they are having trouble getting lethal drugs for executions. aljazeera america. >> let's continue the discussion now and consider whether lethal injection is too cruel a form of punishment with that we're joint by arthur kaplan, head of the division. former texas governor saying the pound does a better job with stray animals than we do in administering lethal injection. what's happening here? >> well, i think what

in april oklahoma spent 43 minutes trying to he can could you tell clayton locket. she stopped the execution and he died of a massive heart attack a few moments later. it stems from a decision by european drug makers to stop supplying phentobarbital. mary is joining me, a professor of law. i believe we've spoken before. >> yes, we have. >> in this case did mr. wood's lawyers aware of what the drug cocktail was and where the cocktail actually came from? i know this is a bone of contention and something that a lot of people are trying to sort out. >> lawyers knew what drugs were being used, but they were seeking were the source of the drugs, the lot number of the drugs, the maker. >> so the constitution, the eighth amendment of the constitution protects against cruel and unusual punishment. what is your view of this? i've got a view, and i guess many americans do. we've heard the view of the family of the victim in this case, and there were two victims, as i recall. when it takes a man two hours to die, is that considered cruel and unusual punishment in the eyes of th

in oklahoma, clayton locket struggle, and the gruesome execution was the same one used on joe wood lastning me now is sister helen persian, author of "dead man walking kwoe "and the executive director of the national coalition to abolish the death penalty diana tierney. >> one of the things that jumped out to me is that an appeals court has said to arizona, no, we don't want you to go forward on this execution because the inmate has the right to know which chemicals are going to be used to eventually kill them. the supreme court then overturned that. we seem to be now in a period in america where the chemicals u d used -- >> it was predictable and avoidable. you are always going to have the kind of disasters that we saw in oklahoma and arizona as long as the government is operating under secrecy and the other factor that we see in here which is even more disturbing is that the federal courts seem to be washing their hands. this isn't an academic exercise. oversight is necessary. these governments don't know what they're doing and so the adverse aa adversarial property are critical to ma

two months later in oklahoma, convicted killer clayton locket died of an apparent heart talk 42 minutesafter a teeth that will combination failed to kill him. former texas governor mark white called for a national moratorium. >> some people call it a botched execution. that wasn't a botched execution. that was cruel and inhumane treatment. the spca does a better job than we're doing in oklahoma and some other states. >> in putting animals to death. >> that's right. >> opponents of capitol punishment say it is only the latest example of states experimenting on condemned prisoners because they are having trouble getting lethal drugs or executions. >> the white house has directed the justice democratic to review how executions are conducted. president obama has called the latest episode deeply troubling. >> a sudanese woman who faced death for converting to christianity had a meeting of a lifetime, a personal audience with pope francis thursday. the vatican described it as effectuate, the pope blessing the mother and her 2-year-old baby. maya was born when her mother was in jail. her death

all executions after what some called the botched execution of convicted musheder and rapist clayton locket execution was also used in wood's. the arizona department of corrections denies any claims of wrongdoing saying in a statement that, quote, the department followed protocol, but adding that the -- but for the family of wood's victims, the debate stirs up -- >> you saw the life in sister in-laws edeath, i'm so sick and tired of you blowing this out of proportion. to me that's b.s. >> reporter: states are left scrambling for alternatives for a key drug in lethal injection, because the sole u.s. manufacturer of that drug stopped producing it in recent years, and other countries abroad where it is produced have also banned importing it to the united states over their objections to the death penalty. as you heard from the family members their pain and suffering and the fact they're saying you shouldn't be focusing on this. >> on the guilty -- on the convict suffering, they're saying what about our suffering in they don't care if he suffered. we certainly can appreciate that. all victims' f