Prisoner Given Last-Minute Stay of Execution

A death row prisoner has been granted a stay of execution, the day before he was due to be killed by lethal injection.

Richard Glossip and two other prisoners in Oklahoma were given temporary reprieves by the United States Supreme Court amid concerns about a drug used in executions.

Midazolam is a sedative administered prior to a paralytic that prevents a prisoner flailing around, while a third drug stops their heart. But there has been criticism that the anaesthetic is not strong enough.

Last year, there was an outcry when problems administering the lethal cocktail led to a prisoner, Clayton Lockett, writhing in pain for 43 minutes before he died of a heart attack.

Glossip's attorney, Mark Kenricksen, told Sky News: "We should not use these human beings as lab rats for Oklahoma's attempt to find a constitutionally acceptable death penalty protocol, and that's why we're suing."

The Glossip case is highly unusual, because he is the only one of the 49 prisoners on Oklahoma's death row who did not actually kill anyone. He was accused of paying an accomplice to murder the owner of a motel where they worked.

The actual killer, Justin Sneed, was offered a plea deal. He escaped the death penalty in return for testifying against Glossip, and is serving a life sentence with no hope of parole.

Until a few weeks ago, there seemed to be little interest in Glossip's impending execution. Then, one of America's foremost abolitionists got involved.

Sister Helen Prejean is the Catholic nun who wrote about her experiences of working with death row inmates. Her book, Dead Man Walking, became a film - and Susan Sarandon's portrayal of the nun won her an Oscar for Best Actress in 1996.

Earlier this week, Sister Helen breezed into Oklahoma City and told a news conference that the eyes of the world were on the state.

She visited Glossip for the first time just a few hours before news of his reprieve was delivered. The Supreme Court will hear submissions on the issue on 29 April.

But despite the controversy, there is still public support for the death penalty in Oklahoma. And some lawmakers have even suggested an alternative way to kill prisoners - using nitrogen gas.

State Senator Ralph Storey told Sky News: "If it got to the point where we didn't have the technological advancements to have lethal injections, I would support hanging or beheading or whatever it would take to make sure that person, in the end, meets his justice."