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Convicted Killer Convulsed and Writhed On The Gurney After Drugs Were Administered; NBA Seeks Forced Sales Of Clippers; Player And Fan Reaction To Sterling's Ban; Heavy Flooding Pounds Gulf Coast; One Dead
Aired April 30, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GARY ROBERTS, PROFESSOR OF SPORTS LAW: I can't believe he's going to want to litigate to hold onto an asset that is going to be not viable and that he's not going to be allowed to participate in going forward. So in a year or two, Donald Sterling is not going to own this team, but the process by which we get to that point I think is not going to be litigation.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we'll see. Gary Roberts, Lee Eagle, thanks to both of you. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a night of rebirths.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.
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COSTELLO: Los Angeles rallies and the Clippers conquer the court. The team's owner banned.
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ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: I am banning Mr. Sterling for life.
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COSTELLO: And fined just 1/1,000th of his worth. So will Donald Sterling be forced to sell his team? Botched execution. An Oklahoma inmate and 43 minutes of hell.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't know if he was still dying or if they were pumping drugs in him.
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COSTELLO: A horrifying situation.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They wanted to hurry up and get it done with as little transparency as possible.
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COSTELLO: Shades of Katrina.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have gone out there with chainsaws to try to cut holes in the roofs to get people out of there.
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COSTELLO: People trapped in their attics. Almost a foot of rain in 24 hours.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The moment of death is just an inch away.
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COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin this hour in Oklahoma where prison officials are scrambling to explain the botched execution of a convicted killer. After being injected with the drugs meant to kill him, Clayton Lockett convulsed on the gurney. At one point, he even tried to sit up and talk. He died 43 minutes after the first injection of an apparent heart attack.
We begin our coverage with CNN justice correspondent, Pamela Brown. Good morning, Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. The inmate who died lost a court battle to find out of the drugs used in his execution after the Supreme Court ruled just last week, he didn't have a right to that information. Last night, witnesses say they watched in horror as he seemingly struggled to talk well after he was given a lethal chemical cocktail.
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COURTNEY FRANCISCO, WITNESS TO EXECUTION: He was struggling to talk. Those are words we got out. Man, I'm not and something's wrong.
BROWN (voice-over): They may be the last words spoken by Oklahoma inmate, Clayton Lockett, uttered during his botched execution. Lockett's vein exploded during the lethal injection prompting authorities to quickly halt the procedure.
ROBERT PATTON, DIRECTOR, OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION: It was my decision at that time to stop the execution.
BROWN: The first drug in the lethal injection cocktail is supposed to render a person unconscious, but witnesses say Lockett was still conscious 7 minutes after that first injection. At 16 minutes, he seemingly tried to get up and talk. It was then that prison officials closed the blinds shutting out the media gathered to witness.
FRANCISCO: We didn't know what was happening on the other side of the blinds. We didn't know if he was still dying or if they were still pumping drugs in him.
BROWN: At 43 minutes after the first injection, Lockett died.
PATTON: The inmate suffered what appears to be a massive heart attack and passed away.
BROWN: Lockett and Charles Warner were inmates sentenced to be executed both convicted of rape and murder were at the center of a court fight over the drugs used in their execution. Oklahoma's high court initially stayed their executions only to lift those stays last week saying the men had no right to know the source of the drugs intended to kill them.
DAVID AUTRY, ATTORNEY FOR CLAYTON LOCKETT: They wanted to hurry up and get it done with as little transparency as possible. There should not be another execution in this state until there's a full investigation into what went wrong.
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BROWN: Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin ordered an investigation into the incident and issued an executive order granting a two-week delay in executions in the state. This incident puts the death penalty debate right back on center stage. In a recent CNN poll taken a couple months ago, 50 percent of Americans favor a death penalty over a life sentence for murderers -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Pamela Brown reporting live from Washington. As Pamela said, this botched execution is sure to have a ripple effect across the country. Is this three drug cocktail really humane? With me now is CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and in New York, CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and former homicide prosecutor. Welcome to both of you.
Good morning. So Sanjay, I want to start with you. Prison officials shot three drugs into Lockett. The first a sedative, right? The next is a paralytic, which paralyzes him and the third stops his heart essentially killing him. So what went wrong?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it appears in this case the sedative, the first drug, it's unclear how much he got. At some point, the vein blew meaning that you are giving medicine through the vein, but has popped open so that medicine is now going into the soft tissue as opposed to the blood. You don't know exactly how much he's getting anymore. It throws off everything. Did he get enough of the first medication, the second, the third? I think that's essentially what seems to have happened here.
COSTELLO: Right. I'll ask you one more question. It's disturbing to even think about, but it goes into humane treatment. Was he in severe pain? GUPTA: You know, it's a challenging question. I will say that none of these drug manufacturers are excited about their drugs being used in this way for that very reason. What exactly is the goal here and what exactly is the person's experience?
COSTELLO: Because essentially what this does is slowly suffocates a person, right? This three-drug cocktail?
GUPTA: The first one is supposed to render you sedate enough where you're not aware of your surroundings. The second one does paralyze your diaphragm so you cannot take breath in or out anymore. The third drug is supposed to work quickly to stop the heart. Is that humane? It's a philosophical question. If it works right, the person should not experience anything. They should be sedate and unaware of their surroundings anymore. In this case, it did not work right. There are imperfections clearly in the system.
COSTELLO: So Paul Lockett's lawyer, the man who was executed, wanted Oklahoma to provide information about these drugs because they feared some of the drugs could have expired. Is that possible?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's certainly possible they could have been expired. I was looking at the headline. Botched execution. It might be botched execution leads to botched execution because the victim in the case was raped, shot twice and buried alive according to state prosecutors. He now is punished in a way that the U.S. constitution clearly does not allow and that is in an inhumane way with pain and suffering.
But getting back to the issue of the drugs, I mean, we're coming into the end game of the administration of the death penalty in America I think. It's largely as a result of the fact that states can't get proper drugs to administer the death penalty.
Death penalty opponents in Europe and the United States really put pressure on the drug companies to keep these drugs away from prison officials. It's difficult to humanely administer the death penalty if there is such a thing and this is a classic case of it, of course.
COSTELLO: OK, I want to ask you one more question, Paul, about the process. There are witnesses to executions in this country as there were in this case. When the vein blew, right, officials closed the curtain so the witnesses could not see. Should they have done that?
CALLAN: This is a common procedure that I've seen happen numerous times on administration of the death penalty. They will never be sued for this. Nothing will ever come of this. Back when the electric chair was in use, it was quite common. When there was a problem administering electricity, that the curtains would be closed if suffering was actually going on. I suspect it's illegal under Oklahoma law, but I also suspect there will never be a lawsuit relating to it.
COSTELLO: Probably not. OK, so Sanjay, I know that this Lockett guy committed a heinous crime. Our constitution says that we have to humanely put these people to death. Is there a more humane way? What is that way and I could come up with a couple of things but --
GUPTA: It's a fine line between actually executing someone and providing medical care at the same time. I think that's the philosophical tension in the medical community. You don't want your drugs used that you designed to prolong and function in life to be used to kill somebody. That's challenging to get those drugs. Are there drugs that could render someone unaware of their surroundings completely pain free?
Absolutely. Those drugs exist. We use them every day. As part of life saving procedures and not life ending procedures and I think that's what Paul is saying as well. It's going to be tough to get the best medications probably for this purpose.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Paul Callan, many thanks.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, cannot come to his own games. He can't even step into the building. Can the NBA really force him to sell the team?
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COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 12 minutes past the hour, torrential downpour causing massive flooding on the east coast. Florida under a state of emergency. At least one person has died. In Alabama, flash floods have overtaken streets and neighborhoods. The flood threat stretches from Florida to New England.
A short time ago, Malaysia's transport minister announced a preliminary report on the missing plane will be released tomorrow. This as an Australian search company stands by claims it found possible wreckage in the Bay of Bengal. Many CNN analysts have shot this down.
British actor, Bob Hoskins, has died at the age of 71. That's according to his agent. Hoskins rose to fame in the 1980s in British gangster films. But he's perhaps best known for his work in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." He passed away in a hospital last night after a bout of pneumonia.
The NBA has come down hard on L.A. Clippers, Donald Sterling. Will other team owners take up the commissioner's challenge and force Sterling to sell the Clippers? Clippers fans raised the roof for their team last night. It was the first time the team had been home since Sterling's racist rant audiotape surfaced. The Clippers beat Golden State to take a 3-2 series lead in the playoffs. Coach Doc Rivers said the game was cathartic for fans as well as the team.
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DOC RIVERS, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS COACH: Everyone was going through this. It was almost like everyone wanted to excel tonight and it was good.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: The game came hours after Commissioner Adam Silver acted decisively banning Sterling from the NBA for life. That means Sterling can't go to games, practices or enter any Clippers facilities. Sterling was also fined $2.5 million and now of course he faces losing his franchise. We're going to talk about that NBA move in a moment with Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "UNGUARDED."
But first, let's head to Dan Simon. He is standing outside of the Staples Center with more on this game which was amazing.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was really incredible. Fans came out in full force to support their Los Angeles Clippers. You know, 24 hours ago when I was standing in this same spot, the mood was somber. We didn't know if there would be NBA boycotts. We didn't know what kind of support we would see from this team. As soon as Adam Silver rendered that decision, we know what happened. The fans came out in a big way and cheered their Los Angeles Clippers to victory -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, so the game was great. The fans were excited, but this is far from over. Walk us through what comes next.
RACHEL NICHOLS, HOST, CNN'S "UNGUARDED": Well, they have to now give Donald Sterling official notice that they are going to have this vote on whether to relieve him of his franchise. He has five days to respond. There's a legal process over a couple weeks and then they supposedly call a vote of the Board of Governors. It's usually one of the principle owners. The question is will they vote the way everyone is expecting them to vote?
It's supposed to be a three-quarters majority to actually oust Sterling. And now we have all of these statements from owners saying they support Adam Silver. This rush in wave to make fans happy and to do the right thing. A lot of owners' hearts are in the genuinely right place. But as you go over the next couple of weeks, as sterling makes his calls to his old cronies, guys he's been around the league -- he's owned the team for 30 years.
He's been a fellow owner with a lot of these other owners for a long time. Retreats, board meetings, this sort of thing. He'll work the phones and try to bring a few people over to his side and he'll be whispering in their ear. This could be you next. Don't set a precedent. Interesting to see if owners decide to break apart and vote his way.
The difference though is that Adam Silver by issuing a public statement yesterday by laying down the gauntlet in public has challenged these owners. It's going to be hard for them to side with Donald Sterling now because they'll have their fans and really their own players to answer to. There's a great power move on Adam Silver's part.
COSTELLO: I was going to ask. You would think the commissioner would go behind the scenes and take a quiet vote of ownership before he held that news conference.
NICHOLS: I asked him that. It was so interesting, wasn't it, Carol? He said he didn't do it. The reason he didn't do it is he didn't want to know ahead of time. He didn't want to give anyone the opportunity to say no in private. He wanted to do it publicly. I found that fascinating.
COSTELLO: Me too. Rachel Nichols, Dan Simon, thanks to both of you.
Regardless of how Donald Sterling responds to the NBA's ban, one thing is for sure. There's plenty of support for the punishment handed down from players and fans alike.
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SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, 15-TIME NBA ALL-STAR: The players and the fans, we own the game. The owners are just custodians.
STEVE NASH, GUARD, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: Let's hope this is an opportunity for all of us as players, as former players, as a league, as a community, to help educate and take one step further to eradicating racism in our communities.
CLIPPER DARRELL, LEGENDARY L.A. CLIPPERS FAN: Let the NBA do what they do. As a fan, I want to get back to playoff basketball. This is the game. Racism is a huge situation. Especially when you have the president of the United States talking about it. Basketball is our sanctuary. All races come together as one and cheer their team on to a victory.
BLAKE GRIFFIN, FORWARD, L.A. CLIPPERS: Kind of like a sigh of relief almost. A collective sigh of relief as a team. We don't have to deal with everybody about this. We can just go play and I think like I said it was the right thing.
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, NBA HALL OF FAMER: I'm thrilled with the outcome. I think most of the players I have spoken to just since the press conference feel the same way and we're looking forward to some very positive changes that will make this city an even more wonderful place than it already is.
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COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a massive storm system slamming the east coast causing extreme flooding and at least one death. CNN's Indra Petersons is tracking the storms. Good morning.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's not all. We're still talking about that threat for more severe weather today. We'll give you details coming up after the break.
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COSTELLO: Torrential rain is slamming communities in the southeast with massive flooding. Check out these pictures just into us. Crews rescued a man who was stranded as floodwaters just completely took over the roads in Alabama. You can see this man holding onto a tree as rescue workers made their way to him. He's OK. Flooding did kill at least one person in Florida near Pensacola. More than a foot of rain has already fallen. The water rose to the roof of one SUV. Crews had to use chainsaws to rescue people trapped in their attics. CNN's Indra Petersons is following the track of storm and it's still raining in Florida, right?
PETERSONS: You know, it's not just Florida. Take a look at D.C. right now. They had flood warnings in that region as well. We talked about Florida so let's look at Fish River in Mobile, Alabama. We're talking about the river in major stage of flooding. It has risen 20 feet in the last 12 hours alone. That's what we're talking about with heavy rainfall amounts. As much as five inches an hour. We call it training.
Thunderstorms coming down in the exact same place over and over again hour after hour. This is the story. It's continuing even as we speak even moving in toward Panama City. Look at the last 24 hours and what's going on here is we're talking about wind coming off the gulf here. You see that warm, humid air helps enhance the thunderstorm development. It's sitting in the same area. It's extending all of the way into the northeast.
Of course, the southeast getting hit the hardest. We're all dealing with the flooding concerns from New York City down into the southeast today. That's one side of the equation. A foot of rain out toward Mobile. Also toward Pensacola, Florida. Maybe up to five inches when you talk about the northeast. The other side of this is severe weather threat. A threat for really enhanced thunderstorms bringing severe weather. Pittsburgh all of the way down through Jacksonville.
We're still going to be concerned with that threat as well. Of course, anyone trying to head out to the airport, keep in mind even if you're not on the east coast, you can be impacted by the severe weather. Look at places like Newark. You're talking about 3.5-hour delays right now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Indra Petersons, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the NBA wants Donald Sterling to sell his team. It needs 29 other owners to pull it out. Will it get the league support it needs? We'll talk about that.
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COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello checking our top stories at 28 minutes past the hour. Oklahoma reviewing its lethal injection procedure after a botched execution led a condemned killer trying to talk. Clayton Lockett died 43 minutes after being injected with a sedative that was supposed to knock him out. Prison officials say he appeared to die of a heart attack.
Amanda Knox denies as new report from an Italian appeals court that claims she killed her roommate over rent. The new 300-page document accuse Knox of delivering the final blow, which killed Meredith Kercher in 2007. Earlier this year, the court convicted Knox of murder for a second time. The former exchange student remains free in the U.S. after her first conviction was overturned on appeal.
The American economy appears frozen by a brutally cold winter. A new report shows that the GDP grew by 0.1 of 1 percent in the first quarter. That is the worst number in two years, but analysts say they are hopeful for a much stronger second quarter.
A private conversation becomes a public scandal and ends with a lifetime ban for NBA owner, Donald Sterling and the NBA wants the league's 29 other owners to put pressure on Sterling and force him to sell the team. Here to talk about that, Michael Cage, a former player for the Los Angeles Clippers, Peter Keating, a senior writer for ESPN, the magazine, and Rick Berry, an NBA hall-of-famer. Welcome to all of you.
I can't see my third guests. I'm sure he'll pop up somewhere. He's getting seated, Peter Scottman. Michael, I want to start with you. Donald Sterling may not go down without a fight.
