OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal appeals court sided with the State of Oklahoma on Wednesday, ruling that the state's execution protocol does not violate the U.S. Constitution or other federal laws.
The case, brought to the courts by several Oklahoma death row inmates, ends after about a decade of back and forth over the state's administration of its lethal three-drug cocktail that prompted the previous moratorium on executions. Executions resumed in 2021 despite the ongoing legal battles.
“On behalf of the numerous families whose lives were irrevocably altered by heinous murders of loved ones, I thank the Tenth Circuit for its timely, thorough, and definitive decision,” Attorney General John O’Connor said after Wednesday's ruling. “The Tenth Circuit has again affirmed that Oklahoma’s execution protocol is constitutional.”
The court ruled that the protocol "worked as intended," including in the most recent executions of the last year as this case unfolded.
Oklahoma will execute its latest death row inmate Benjamin Cole in McAlester on Thursday.
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