Burdened prison staffers seeking more time between executions should ‘suck it up,’ top criminal court judge says
April 3, 2024, 8:48 am CDT
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Judge Gary Lumpkin, a judge on Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court, has said state prison officials seeking more time between executions have to “suck it up” and get the job done. (Photo from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals)
A judge on Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court says state prison officials seeking more time between executions have to “suck it up” and get the job done.
Judge Gary Lumpkin of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals said he’s not buying into the “sympathy stuff” as he commented last week on the request for 90 days between executions by Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Oklahoma Department of Corrections executive director Steven Harpe.
The Frontier, Slate and Law & Crime have stories, while a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by a journalist with the Marshall Project noted the Slate article.
Drummond and Harpe were previously granted 60 days between executions by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. But in a January motion, they said the 60-day pace was “too onerous and not sustainable,” and they are now seeking 90 days between executions.
Harpe said in an affidavit each execution triggers a series of tasks involving eight different teams of multiple people. The preparations and the execution place a “tremendous burden” on Oklahoma Department of Corrections operations and staff members, Harpe said.
Lumpkin said at the March 26 hearing the execution pace was much faster in 2001 through 2003, and the people involved did their duty.
“I’m sorry, but I come from the Marine Corps, and when we have tough duties, we just say, ‘man up,’” he said.
“We set a reasonable amount of time to start this out, and y’all keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it,” Lumpkin said at the hearing. “Who’s to say next month you won’t come in and say, ‘I need 120 days?’ This stuff needs to stop, and people need to suck it up, realize they have a hard job to do, and get it done in a timely, proficient, professional way.”
Slate also noted that the frequent executions take a toll on the mental health of the staffers involved. Harpe cited the issue in a statement published by KFOR.
A slower pace, Harpe said, “protects our team’s mental health and allows time for them to process and recover between the scheduled executions.”
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