Oklahoma death row inmate James Coddington seeks execution stay
A death row inmate scheduled for execution next month is complaining about restrictions placed on his access to his attorneys in his final hours.
James Coddington is set to be executed by lethal injection at 10 a.m. Aug. 25 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. His attorneys raised their complaint in a request for an execution stay.
They asked for the stay last week at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
They also are seeking mercy from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. On Monday, his clemency hearing at the Pardon and Parole Board was rescheduled to Aug. 3.
More:Death penalty foes push for clemency for James Coddington, who faces execution Aug. 25
In the stay request, his attorneys argued the state's execution protocol violates his constitutional right to access to legal representation.
"Oklahoma intends to carry out Mr. Coddington’s execution while terminating his access to his counsel two hours priorto the execution or 'earlier if necessary,' thereby preventing counsel from observing any issues with the execution process, and in turn preventing any court from addressing mishaps that frequently arise during Oklahoma’s execution process," his attorneys told the appeals court.
"Botched executions happen all too often, both in Oklahoma and elsewhere, and occur at least in part due to a lack of transparency and accountability in execution protocols."
In Oklahoma, attorneys are able to watch an execution from a witness room after the inmate is already on the gurney with the intravenous lines set. Attorneys are instructed not to talk during the procedure and are not allowed to bring in cellphones.
They also cannot clearly hear an inmate after his final statement because the execution chamber microphone is cut off.
The attorneys contend they should be able to observe the setting of the IV lines that deliver the drugs. They want to be able to communicate with Coddington through the administration of the lethal injection chemicals.
More:Oklahoma sets execution dates for 25 death row inmates through end of 2024
They also complain the Corrections Department director can order the curtains in the execution chamber closed "if things go awry, which is the exact point when access to counsel and the courts is most critical."
"For the foregoing reasons, Mr. Coddington requests that the Court grant his motion for stay of execution pending consideration of his appeal," they wrote.
An Oklahoma City federal judge has already rejected the access complaints, the first time in 2014 and again last year.
"The reality is that as execution by lethal injection is actually carried out, the prisoner's erstwhile right of access to the courts must, of necessity, give way to the execution team's discharge of its duties as long as those who are carrying out the process are operating within the confines of a constitutionally sound lethal injection protocol," U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled in 2014.
"No court has found a constitutional right for the prisoner to have counsel present to supervise the IV insertion process and I decline to be the first judge to so hold."
Coddington, 50, is facing execution for murdering a friend, Albert Troy Hale, during a cocaine binge and robbery spree in 1997.
He went to Hale's house in Choctaw to borrow $50 for cocaine after robbing a convenience store, according to evidence in the case. Hale, 73, turned him down and told him to leave.
Coddington then beat Hale with a claw hammer, took $525, left and robbed five more convenience stores. He confessed after he was arrested by police outside his south Oklahoma City apartment.
James Coddington's clemency hearing postponed
The Pardon and Parole Board had been scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider his clemency request. The hearing was postponed so that all five board members can be present.
Gov. Kevin Stitt will have the final say if the board recommends commuting his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The governor cannot intervene if the parole board rejects Coddington's clemency request.
Coddington is the first of 25 inmates scheduled for execution through the end of 2024. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued the schedule after the federal judge rejected the inmates' complaints about an execution drug.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma death row inmate James Coddington seeks execution stay
