OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The top lawyer for Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin urged prison officials to go forward with a planned execution even though they received the wrong drug, telling a deputy attorney general to “Google it” to confirm it could be used, a grand jury said in a report Thursday.
The grand jury faulted many officials for three botched execution attempts but issued no indictments after its months-long investigation. But the panel noted that Fallin’s general counsel, Steve Mullins, advocated for the use of potassium acetate in the Sept. 30 execution of Richard Glossip, even though the state’s lethal injection protocol calls for potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Fallin later issued a last-minute stay for Glossip, who remains on death row.
“The governor’s general counsel stated potassium chloride and potassium acetate were basically one in the same drug, advising deputy attorney general to ‘Google it,'” the grand jury report said. Mullins also argued that the state shouldn’t file a stay for Glossip’s execution because “it would look bad for the state of Oklahoma because potassium acetate had already been used in (Charles) Warner’s execution.”
Mullins resigned in February as Fallin’s general counsel. A home phone number in his name rang unanswered Thursday afternoon.
“It is unacceptable for the governor’s general counsel to so flippantly and recklessly disregard the written protocol and the rights of Richard Glossip,” the grand jury said in its report.