USA - Oklahoma. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot ruled that Oklahoma's new execution protocol is not cruel or unusual and the state can resume executions

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot on Monday ruled that Oklahoma's new execution protocol is not cruel or unusual and the state can resume executions as soon as next month. Judge Friot denied a motion for preliminary injunction from four Oklahoma death row inmates scheduled to die between January and March of 2015. Friot found that the inmates "failed to establish any prerequisites" for the granting of an injunction, even under a "relaxed standard." "The court concludes that the movants have failed to establish a probability of success on the merits of any of the five claims they assert for preliminary injunction purposes," the order states. "The court further concludes that movants have failed to demonstrate that, absent a preliminary injunction, they would suffer any non-speculative irreparable harm. The court further concludes that the balance of equities does not tip in movants' favor." Halting the executions would "not be in the public interest," Friot wrote. The inmates claim the use of replacement execution drugs is unconstitutional, citing the pain that Clayton Lockett endured during his botched execution on April 29, 2014 (see) that was described as a gruesome "bloody mess". Lockett was declared unconscious after being injected with midazolam in the state's new three-drug combination. Three minutes later, Lockett began breathing heavily, writhing, clenched his teeth and strained to lift his head off of a pillow, in apparent agony. Blinds separating a viewing gallery were then lowered and Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton halted the execution 20 minutes later. Lockett died from a heart attack soon after. The inmates will appeal Friot's ruling to the 10th Circuit tomorrow, according to lawyers. Immediately after Friot's ruling, Director Patton announced that Charles Warner will be executed on Jan. 15, 2015. Warner was originally scheduled to die hours after Lockett.