Bold and h*eartless, Clayton Lockett proudly confessed to police, “I m*urdered that bitch,” referring to 19-year-old Stephanie Newman, a dis*abled woman whom Lockett and two accomplices ki*dnapped and shot before burying her al*ive in a shallow grave. Two other people were attacked that evening but lived to tell the story.
Yet, Lockett fought for his own life after he was convicted of murder and sentenced to de*ath. And on the day of his execution, when things went ter*ribly wrong, Lockett, the man who buried a woman alive without a bit of remorse, the man who led a life of crime before the savage mu*rder, c*ried and whimpered, begging executioners to help him.
The last words Lockett ever spoke were “Something’s wrong!”
The Crime
Back on the night of June 9, 1999, Lockett and his friends broke into Bobby Bornt’s house. Lockett, Shawn Mathis, and Alfonzo Lockett broke into Bobby’s house and started beating and kicking him while he was sleeping on the couch. The men then put Bornt in a cuff and taped him up while they searched the house for drugs.
Summer Hair, Bornt’s friend, opened the front door. She and her friend Stephanie Neiman were going to a party and asked Bornt to join them.
The three men beat up Summer and told her to call Stephanie, her friend, who was sitting in the truck outside. She did what she was told. After getting inside, Stephanie was tied down with duct tape and put in the bedroom where Bornt’s 9-month-old son Sam slept.
Hair was raped and sex with all three men. Then, the men put Hair, Bornt, and his baby son in her pickup truck as well as the truck they used to get to the house. They drove them to a remote area and raped Hair again.
“Someone has to go,” Clayton Lockett told Mathis as he told him to dig a grave. The men took Stephanie to the grave and told her to swear she wouldn’t call the police. Clayton shot her because she wouldn’t agree. He went to his truck to fix his gun because it was stuck. Stephanie begged for her life when he came back, but it didn’t help. She was shot again by Clayton. Mathis then threw Stephanie into the grave while she was still alive and dug her up with dirt. Stephanie’s toes stuck out because the grave wasn’t very deep.
He told Bornt and Hair that he would k*ill them too if they told anyone. The men then put Bornt, his son, and Hair in their pickup truck and drove them to Bornt’s house, where the horror had begun a few hours before. They buried Stephanie, who was hurt but still alive.
Suspects Arrested
The next day, Bornt and Hair called Perry police. They recovered Stephanie’s pickup truck and eventually arrested all three men.
Lockett admitted to the crime, but he never felt bad about what he did. Later, DNA from Stephanie, fingerprints found on the duct tape used to restrain the victims, and witness statements were used against Lockett. He was told he had to die by lethal injection.
Lockett had been in a lot of trouble with the law before this crime. He was found guilty of burglary in 1992 and went to prison for seven years. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of intimidating state witnesses in the same year.
During the 15 years Clayton was in jail waiting to be put to de*ath, he was not a good prisoner. He had a lot of behavior issues and offenses, like making his own shanks and throwing poop at a prison guard.
The Execution of Clayton Lockett
Lockett was punished by the state of Oklahoma on April 29, 2014, which was almost 15 years after Stephanie Neiman was killed. When the guards came to move him to the de*ath chamber, he hid under his prison blanket. He had to be tased by the guards to get out of there. He cut his wrists.
The government planned to kill two people that night. Charles Warner, a child rapist and killer, was set to be put to d*eath two hours after Lockett. Warner was not put to dea*th for 14 days after the failed execution.
During Lockett’s execution, the state used a mix of drugs that had not been tested before: midazolam, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. They also used the wrong size needle.
There were 43 minutes left in the execution when the doctor stopped it. Clayton Lockett had a heart attack and passed away soon after.
At 6:23 p.m., prison officials gave Lockett the first drug. At 6:33 p.m., they said he was unconscious and stopped the execution 20 minutes later. He had a heart attack and died at 7:07 p.m. Unfortunately for Lockett, his vein burst, so not enough of the three drugs that were mixed together k*illed him. Staff couldn’t see the IV connection fail because a cloth was put over the groin area so that witnesses couldn’t see.
After being said to be unconscious, Lockett raised his head and said, “Oh man, I’m not…” After a short time, they said, “Something’s wrong.” At 6:36 p.m., he started to writhe and then twitched and convulsed right away. At 6:36 p.m., he got up from the table and let out a sigh.
Response to Botched Execution
People all over the country were very angry about the botched execution. In Perry, Oklahoma, hearing that Lockett’s execution went wrong was not a big deal. People in the area only felt bad about Stephanie, who they say loved the saxophone and always said what she thought.
“We are totally upset down here,” said Marilee Macias, owner of the Kumback Cafe in downtown Perry. News of Lockett’s botched execution dominated the conversation, making some diners even more angry. “Everyone here could only talk about how bad the news people made that sound when it happened and made the news.” They’re not thinking about the victim or their family”.
On Monday, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin issued a statement urging as much.
“It is my hope that Stephanie Neiman’s family and friends, as well as Lockett’s surviving victims, have found some measure of closure and peace,” Fallin wrote. “The people of Oklahoma do not have blood on their hands. They saw Clayton Lockett for what he was: evil.”
