During his execution, man in US vomited and convulsed, causing widespread outcry

The Oklahoma state in the US is being sharply criticised after a few witnesses revealed that a convicted murderer vomited and experienced convulsions as he was executed by lethal injection.

John Grant, 60, who is Black, was sentenced to death after he murdered a white prison cafeteria worker, Gay Carter in 1998. He was the first inmate to be put to death in Oklahoma after a series of mishandled executions led to a temporary prohibition on capital punishment.

Various journalists who witnessed the execution said that Grant had vomited and experienced full-body convulsions about two dozen times before he was declared dead. It took a period of 15 minutes for Grant to be declared unconscious by medical staff. After this, the vecuronium bromide, which paralyses the body, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, were given.

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This comes after a federal appeals court had put a hold on Grant's execution over concerns about the drug cocktail which was used.

However, the Supreme Court lifted the last-minute stay and allowed the execution to go ahead.

Grant's attorneys had argued that the use of sedative midazolam would lead to cruel and unusual punishment and also violate his constitutional rights.

The Oklahoma attorney general's office asked the Supreme Court to vacate the stay and it was done hours ahead of Grant's scheduled execution, with just the three liberal justices objecting.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said that Grant's execution went as planned. "Inmate Grant's execution was carried out in accordance with Oklahoma Department of Corrections' protocols and without complication," communications director Justin Wolf said in a statement.

Earlier, Midazolam was identified as a potential factor in a series of mishandled executions in Oklahoma. A lawsuit challenging Oklahoma's lethal injection protocols will go to trial in February 2022. Also, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals had put executions on hold in the state pending a ruling in the case.

"There should be no more executions in Oklahoma until we go to trial in February to address the state's problematic lethal injection protocol," said Dale Baich, an attorney for Grant and other death row inmates.