Oklahomans React To The Execution Of John Grant

Oklahoma carried out its first execution since 2015.

John Grant was put to death Thursday afternoon in McAlester for the 1998 murder of prison worker Gay Carter.

Reactions are now pouring in from across the state.

Witnesses describe the execution as painful, while the Department of Corrections says the execution was carried out without complications.

Sean Murphy from The Associated Press says he has witnessed more than a dozen executions. Four of them with the drug, midazolam.

He says he saw John Grant struggling before the heart-stopping potassium chloride was administered.

"The vomiting is something I haven't seen before," Murphy said. "That seemed to be a problem."

The Department of Corrections released a statement saying: "Inmate Grant's execution was carried out in accordance with Oklahoma Department of Corrections' protocols and without complication."

Grant was on death row for stabbing Gay Carter 16 times at the Dick Conner Correctional Center, where she worked.

Her family this morning said in part:

"The death penalty is about protecting any potential future victims. Even after Grant was removed from society, he committed an act of violence that took an innocent life."

One of John Grant's attorneys is calling the execution "botched."