Federal judge declines to halt upcoming Oklahoma executions

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge has declined to temporarily halt the executions of two Oklahoma inmates who are scheduled to die in the coming weeks. In an order released Friday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in Oklahoma City wrote that inmates Donald Grant and Gilbert Postelle were not likely to succeed in their claims that Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection method presents the risk of subjecting them to severe pain and suffering. He also determined that the two men selected an alternative method of execution, firing squad, too late to be included in a separate lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s method as unconstitutional. Grant is scheduled to die on Jan. 27 and Postelle’s execution is set for Feb. 17.