Oklahoma Corrections Department attorney testifies he was pressured to keep executions on schedule
Source: The Oklahoman
A former attorney for the state Corrections Department testified Thursday that his agency was pressured by both the governor’s and attorney general’s offices to carry out two executions in April, despite ongoing litigation and a lack of the necessary drugs.
Michael Oakley, former general counsel for the state Corrections Department, testified in Oklahoma’s Western District federal court that a shortage of lethal drugs had his agency consulting regularly with Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office.
“After those meetings we would get word from the attorney general’s office that we better hurry up and get this done,” Oakley said.
The two inmates scheduled for execution in April were suing the state, seeking the source of the drugs that would be used to kill them. In a court filing in that case, the state called its search for drugs a “Herculean effort.”
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Full title, which didn't fit: Former Oklahoma Corrections Department attorney testifies he was pressured to keep executions on schedule
Wikipedia: Execution of Clayton Lockett: Aftermath