News Digest

Oklahoma killer to be executed as lethal injection complaints surge

A murderer will be put to death on Wednesday after the state of Oklahoma was cleared to resume executing prisoners. Richard Glossip will become the 113th inmate to die in the past four decades in the wake of a ruling from the Supreme Court, which rejected complaints that the lethal injection process was inhumane. He is sitting in a cell next to the execution room, waiting for the death sentence to be carried out. His supporters are calling for a 60-day delay and say they will unveil new evidence on Monday.

People [say] the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. Yes it is. That individual will never commit a crime again.

Execution witness Richard Workman

Last year, a botched execution in which a prisoner took three-quarters of an hour to die drew national and international condemnation. But in June, the Supreme Court rejected a claim by Glossip, 52, and two other inmates that the procedure was cruel. Glossip, who claims he was wrongly convicted of the 1997 murder of the owner of a run-down motel, has won support from campaigner Sister Helen Prejean and Susan Sarandon, who played her in the film Dead Man Walking. But death penalty witness Randall Workman defended the process, saying: "You’re going to go to sleep. You’re going to start snoring and then you’re going to pass away quietly.“ Oklahoma executes more people per head of population than any other U.S. state.