Good morning, im melissa harrisperry. We begin this morning with a story thats hard to hear but necessary to discuss. Now, im going to be referring to this clock behind me, okay, dont get too distracted by it. Ill bring it back whenever we need it. The state of oklahoma was scheduled to execute two convicted murderers, Clayton Lockett and charles warner. Tha their crimes were heinous. The inmates challenged the execution claiming that they had the right to know the source of the drugs. A District Court judge ruled on march 26th that the secrecy law signed by governor mary fallon in 2011 was unconstitutional. But after the States Supreme Court granted a stay of the executions on april 22nd so that it could rule on the issue of secrecy, the governor responded, saying the court had acted, quote, outside of its constitutional authority. At the same time a fellow republican in the state house began working on a bill to impeach the five justices who voted for the stay. The state Supreme Court soon ruled against the inmates regarding the question of secrecy of the drug cocktail, lifted the stay and effectively allowed the plan for execution to move forward. Time check. 1 22. Back to the story. Thanks to the courts ruling, the executions, complete with the untested drug cocktail, were scheduled for last tuesday night. At 6 23 p. M. Local time, Clayton Lockett lay strapped to a gurney. His sedation was finally flowing into his body after officials spent nearly an hour searching for a vein for the i. V. And soon it was clear something was really wrong. Witnesses, including a guest today noticed his blinking, pursing his lips. A physician checked, he wasnt yet unconscious when he should have been by then. Shortly after the second and third drugs, the fatal ones started to flow into him at 6 33 p. M. At 6 36 p. M. , lockett began to twitch, shake and mumble. One of his attorneys later described what he saw. This was a horrible thing to witness. One of the things he said was somethings wrong. He said, man, at one point. He kept trying to raise up. A few minutes later, the oklahoma director of corrections attempted to halt the execution. At 6 42 p. M. The shades were drawn, blocking the witnesses from seeing any more. Heres what witnesses told reporters they did see. He was struggling to talk, but those were the words we got out, man, im not, and somethings wrong. It seemed like he was trying to get up. At 6 39, they lowered the blinds. We didnt know what was happening on the other side of the blinds. We didnt know if he was still dying or if they were still pumping drugs in him. The states log indicates that at 7 06 p. M. Lockett was declared dead of what the director of corrections calls a massive heart attack. As a result of what happened during locketts execution, an immediate stay was put in place for warners execution. On thursday the director of corrections recommended in an indefinite delay while the lethal execution directive is renewed. They responded to a question about the events of that night. In the application of the Death Penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems. This situation in oklahoma i think just highlights some of the significant problems there. I think we do have to, as a society, ask ourselves some difficult and profound questions. Okay. I found that story difficult to tell. Its gruesome. But i know some people right now might be shruging and asking why should i go. If you know anything about the crime for which lockett was sentenced to die, this story of a 43minute botched lethal injection procedure might not seem gruesome enough. Im not going to share the details of his crime because they can give one nightmares and evoke images you will never shake but this crime is as bad as you can imagine. And i feel a little difficulty in having pity for someone capable of doing what this man did. I can understand why many people could react with disinterest or even with a kind of morbid glee to learn that this man, lockett, suffered in this way before his death. Given his crime, who cares. Time check, 4 44. So let me try to answer that question, who cares. We should. We, the american people. No matter our party affiliation, no matter whether we support the Death Penalty, we should care whether inmates are tortured to death by the state and we should care because not torturing our inmates to death is one of the distinguishing features of our founding. It is part of how we understand who we are as a people. Look here at the eighth amendment which reads excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed. Heres the key part, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. That amendment, part of the bill of rights, bans the state from torturing those we find guilty, even of heinous crimes. The constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment is among the earliest aspects of United States law. One that existed before the republic was even fully formed. The language was borrowed from the virginia declaration of rights which predates even the declaration of independence. We assert this right to protection against cruel and unusual punishment because we are a government of laws. Not whims. Not emotions, not the will of a dictator. We do not turn over the guilty to mobs of angry citizens. I get it. Revenge is an ugly but ordinary human impulse. At a human level, we can countenance the desire to torture and kill people who commit atrocities like those lockett and warner committed, but we dont. We dont because who we are as citizens, as a nation must be higher than our lowest human impulses. One of our founding fathers, james wilson, explained in 1791 the same year the eighth amendment was adopted, quote, a nation broke to or that tolerates cruel punishments becomes dastardly and contemptible. For in nations as well as cruelly is always attended by coward is. We have spent decades defining just what that is. In the 1878 case, wilkerson versus utah, the Supreme Court noted that drawing and quartering, burning alive and a few other awful ways to die constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court ruled that the eighth amendment prohibited hard and painful labor, shack ling for the length of incarceration and severe civil rejections. Time check. 7 12. Remember that Execution Chamber where Clayton Lockett lay strapped to a gurney awaiting his death . 43 minutes may not seem like a long time. Its a long time. Ive been talking about this for less than eight minutes. That is an eternity in tv time. Imagine how long that is in Death Chamber time. Multiply that number behind me by about four and hes still not dead. Clayton locketts crimes were monstrous, but if we, the state, torture him for 43 minutes until he is dead, then what does that make us . At what point do we become monsters . Joining me now from tulsa, oklahoma, is ziva brandsetter, Enterprise Editor for tulsa world, a witness to the execution of Clayton Lockett. Also steven bright, president at the Southern Center for human rights. So nice to have you both here. Good morning. Good to be here. Do i have the sequence of events correct . Yes, you do. What else do we need to know about what happened on that day leading up to that moment . The inmate was very noncompliant. He refused a verbal command to leave his cell. They had to use a taser. Prison guards discovered that he had self injured his arm. They took him to prison medical determined that he didnt need any stitches and he was placed in a sort of mental holding cell to review his behavior for a period of time and then taken to the normal process of showering and preparing for the execution. So we know then there was obviously there was a legal case, a challenge. We also know there was noncompliance on that day. Then we know about these 43 minutes. Steven, i want for a moment to set aside the idea of the Death Penalty has itself inherently cruel and unusual, which i understand many people argue. I just want to set that aside for a moment and just explain to me how it is that lethal i injection has been seen by the courts as not violating the eighth amendment. Well, in the united States Supreme Court looked at this question and said there wasnt a risk of unnecessary pain in looking at the kentucky procedures in a case which didnt actually involve an attempt to execution someone. Obviously in oklahoma, thats not true. This man, as you said, was tortured to death over this time period. What were seeing is with all the problems of lethal injection and there have been plenty in states all over the country, ohio, florida, and oklahoma just in january, what the states have rushed to do is to make everything secret. Rather than try to solve the problem or try to deal with the issues, its to make everything secret so nobody knows whats happening. And basically the departments of corrections or the governors and legislators are saying trust us. Even on Something Like killing you, trust us, well find some drugs, maybe from a compounding pharmacy, that is judged by and the United States court of appeals said maybe like a High School Chemistry class. Well have unskilled people administering these drugs and not there with the inmate but in another room somewhere feeding the drugs in. So what you have is the disaster that we had in oklahoma this week. So, stephen, you said some things that i think are really critical there, ziva, and i want to come to you on those. The question of secrecy and having unskilled persons doing this, is there a protocol in oklahoma that allows for this kind of secrecy or that allows for this level of unskilled persons actually administering the drugs . Well, correct. We passed a secrecy law in 2011 that shields the identities of the executioners, people who participate in the process as well as the suppliers of the drugs and the medical equipment. They do, according to the timeline that our department of corrections put out, they do have a phlebotomist. They do have a physician in the room. We dont have his name either. I dont know if hes been disciplined. He oversaw the process supposedly of inserting the iv. They couldnt find veins in his arm so they placed the iv in his groin area, femoral vein and there are a lot of questions wed like answered but cant get access to the records of what these professionals are. Stephen, let me come back for a moment. I want to listen to jay carney talking about how difficult this was and how it raises questions for us about the processes of lethal injection. In this case, or these cases, the crimes are indisputably horrific and heinous, but its also the case that we have a fundamental standard in this country that even when the Death Penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely. And i think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard. Is there a way to, stephen, humanely carry out the Death Penalty . Well, i mean what you have with these departments of corrections here, i mean its clear from the timeline that the director of corrections sent to the governor that when things started to go wrong here, they had no idea what they were doing. The warden is on the phone to the director talking about, well, hes not dying and the director is saying do we have enough drugs or, no, we dont have enough drugs. They were going to execution another man later that night, they surely had more drugs. But its clear from the summary of that that neither one of these people are doctors, neither ones an anesthesiologist, they had absolutely no idea what theyre doing and they finally called off the execution and five minutes later, the guy has a massive heart attack. But lethal injection was seen as this kind of humane, almost like being put to sleep before an operation. It just hasnt turned out that way for a lot of reasons that i talked about. I just point this out. The director says at the end of this letter to the governor that he is going to check with other corrections departments to find out what best practices are for carrying out an execution. Oklahoma has carried out 111 executions. And now theyre talking about checking on best practices . They havent figured out what the best practices is after i mean theyre second only to texas in the number of people that have been executed. And this was keystone cops. I mean this was absolutely botched in every way conceivable, starting with the tasering of the fellow first thing in the morning and then all the things that happened when they tried to put him down. And the other thing about putting the curtains down, i mean the idea of having witnesses there, like a reporter and like people from the public is to see what happens and to know whats going on, but this is all shrouded in secrecy. Ziva, we are going to continue to read your reporting around this. I know this is not over, as Stephen Bright just brought up. There was another inmate who was meant to be executed that night and well be following this. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here, Stephen Bright. Obviously we are raising Big Questions about that 43 minutes. Coming up, outrage over the comments on race made by l. A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. And what we can learn from kanye west. Okay, listen up im reworkin the menu. Mayo . Corn dogs . You are so outta here aah [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of greattasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. Nutrition in charge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. My guests are nathan, which dish is better . Now i say you can have it all with our new seafood trios red lobsters new seafood trios is three times delicious choose one option from the woodfire grill, one signature shrimp dish, and a pasta like new lobster mac and cheese. 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The state tried to make necessary and those voters are disproportionately black and la teen oh the voter i. D. Law therefore produces a discriminatory result, the judge wrote. It was a major victory for Voting Rights advocates and the 300,000 voters in question, beating back the false narrative of voter impersonation which again the judge wrote no rational person could be concerned about. Wisconsin Governor Scott walker said his administration will appeal. In the nation, we reward safe driving. Add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get 100 off for every year of safe driving. We put members first. Join the nation. Nationwide is on your side while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. 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Get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. Tell your doctor your medical history. And ask your doctor about celebrex. For a body in motion. Okay, nerdland, you remember this moment. George bush doesnt care about black people. Kanye west said that on Live National tv during an nba telethon that raised more than 50 million for victims of hurricane katrina. It was second 2 september 2nd 2005. Thousands of residents were trapped in their homes, on their roofs or in the superdome. Many had gone without food or water for days. They were still waiting for help four days after the levees failed. Former president george bush said that kanye wests statement was the worst moment hiof his eight years as president. I dont appreciate it then, i dont appreciate it now. Its one thing to say i dont appreciate the way hes handled his business. Its another thing to say this man is a racist. I resent it, its not true, and it was one of the most disgusting moments of my presidency. You say you told laura at the time it was the worst moment of your presidency. Yes. I wonder if some people are going to read that and they might give you some heat for that. I dont care. Not the hurricane itself, not the aftermath, not the slow government response, not the at least 1,800 people that had died, the worst moment of his presidency was when someone called him a racist. Let me be clear, i am not bringing this up now to mock the former president. Im doing it to make a point. That many people