Court extends period between executions despite judge’s message to ‘let it go’

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals extends the time between death row executions to 90 days, at the request of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Department of Corrections Director Stephen Harp. due to the pressure placed on prison staff.

The plan implemented in 2021 was to eliminate 58% of our state’s death row by executing 25 people over a three-year period.

“Suck it up,” is what Judge Gary Lumpkin told DOC officials during a hearing on whether to extend the time between executions. But in a split decision this week, the court moved the interval between lethal injections from 30 to 60, now to 90 days.

“The day of an execution affects not only those directly involved in the execution, but also the entire Oklahoma State Penitentiary, which is almost completely closed until the execution is completed” , Harp said.

This week, three of the five members of the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the Attorney General and the DOC, extending the deadline to 90 days. Two justices wrote dissenting opinions, including Justice Lumpkin.

“These things need to stop and people need to realize that they have a difficult job to do and do it in a professional and timely manner,” Lumpkin said at a hearing in March. “I don’t buy sympathy on behalf of people who have to do their jobs.”

In another change, the five justices unanimously agreed that the state should request one execution date at a time rather than scheduling six inmates at a time, as the state recently did. According to him, the court said that the chain of safeguards had to be reduced so that justice could be done.

“Attorney General Drummond respects the Court’s decision and will continue to support the victims’ families in any way possible as they wait for justice for their lost loved ones,” Drummond’s office told News 9 in a communicated.

The next execution is scheduled for June 6 for inmate Wade Lay, who attempted to rob a Tulsa bank in 2004 and fatally shot the security guard on duty.