Doctor Accused of Torture, 'Medical Experimentation' over Botched Execution

The family of Clayton Lockett, an Oklahoma death row inmate who in April was killed in a botched execution, is suing those who participated in his death, including a board-certified physician, saying they violated numerous treaties including those established at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials.

In his lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, Gary Lockett, charged that the "brutal" execution of his brother, which took nearly an hour, "was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a violation of innumerable standards of international law, and a violation of elementary concepts of human decency."

After the administration of the controversial and untested drug midazolam, Lockett--as described in the court documents--"writhed in agony, convulsed, gasped for breath, moaned repeatedly and took approximately 43 minutes to die at the hands of the Defendants."

Among those defendants identified in the suit is Dr. Johnny Zellmer, who the suit charges "engaged in human medical experimentation in torturing Clayton Lockett to death, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, the Hippocratic Oath, and numerous international treaties and protocols including those established at the Nuremberg Doctor Trials dealing with human experimentation on unwilling prisoners."

As the Guardian's Ed Pilkington reports, "The naming of Dr. Zellmer under court privilege is a rare instance of the identity of a physician who allegedly participated in an execution coming to light. Death penalty states, including Oklahoma, go to great lengths to guard the secrecy of their execution teams."

Typically, doctors are only present in the execution chamber in order to pronounce an individual dead. However, in the case of Lockett, an internal investigation revealed that a physician had to step in to ultimately administer the execution drugs via IV when a paramedic was unable to place the IV.