Clayton Lockett

Case overview

Clayton Lockett was convicted of first degree murder in Noble County, Oklahoma, and was sentenced to death.

STATUS / execution proceedings

Lockett was asked whether he had any last words, and he answered “No.” He was covered up to his shoulders by a white sheet. Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton later stated that prison officials did not know how much of the second and third drugs entered Lockett’s body, and described that “His line failed.” When asked what that meant, Patton added: “His vein exploded.” Lockett was pronounced dead in the execution chamber at 7:06 p.m. from a heart attack, after being injected in a botched procedure.

During the attempt to execute Lockett by lethal injection, media witnesses reported a timeline in which blinds were raised and the execution was set to begin 23 minutes past its scheduled time. Oklahoma State Penitentiary Warden Anita Trammell asked Lockett whether he had any last words, and Lockett replied “No.” The first drug was injected into each of Lockett’s arms to start the process. After a doctor’s statement that Lockett was not unconscious, the doctor later stated: “Mr. Lockett is unconscious,” followed by “Mr. Lockett is unconscious,” again at a second check after a full minute without movement. The witnesses described Lockett kicking his right leg and head rolling to the side, his mumbled statement being unintelligible, and then his body starting writhing and bucking. Witnesses stated he mumbled again and that a word “man” could be heard at 6:39 p.m. The blinds were lowered temporarily at that point. Patton later announced the execution had been stopped, stating that there had been a “vein failure in which the chemicals did not make it into the offender” and that, under his authority, they were issuing a stay for the second execution. Patton later stated prison officials did not know how much of the second and third drugs entered Lockett’s body and that “His line failed” and “His vein exploded.”

Other legal proceedings and citations

Lockett’s direct appeal and habeas proceedings were litigated in: Lockett v. State, 53 P.3d 418 (Okla. Crim. App. 2002); Lockett v. Trammel, 711 F.3d 1218 (10th Cir. Okla. 2013).

Timeline

• 10:30 p.m., June 3, 1999 — Bobby Bornt was asleep on the couch at his house in Perry, Oklahoma, when his front door was kicked in.
• June 3, 1999 — The attackers beat and kicked Bobby Bornt and raped and abused Summer Hair and Stephanie Neiman; the group drove in two pickups to a remote rural location; Stephanie Neiman was shot while buried alive was later described as part of the offense.
• Friday night (week following June 3, 1999) — Neiman’s body was found in a shallow grave along a dirt road west of Ponca City, about 40 miles north of Perry, as part of the investigation described.
• Friday afternoon (after the reported June 3, 1999 events) — The three men were arrested at Mathis’ house in Enid after Enid officers spotted Bornt’s stolen pickup by the house.
• 7:06 p.m., April 29, 2014 — Lockett was pronounced dead in the execution chamber from a heart attack.

Background

At around 10:30 p.m. on June 3, 1999, Bobby Bornt was asleep on the couch at his house in Perry, Oklahoma, when his front door was kicked in.

The offence

Three men entered Bornt’s house and immediately started beating and kicking him. Lockett was carrying a shotgun and used it to hit Bornt. After the beating, duct tape was used to secure Bornt’s hands behind his back and he was gagged and left on the couch while the attackers ransacked the house looking for drugs.

Summer Hair approached the open door and was pulled inside, hit in the face, and thrown against a wall. A gun was put to Hair’s head and Hair was ordered to call to Stephanie Neiman, who was outside sitting in her pickup. When Neiman came inside, the men hit her several times to get the keys to her pickup and the code to disarm the alarm on her pickup.

The men put all three victims in the bedroom where Bornt’s nine-month-old son, Sam, had been sleeping. Alfonzo Lockett took Hair and made her perform oral sodomy on him. Alfonzo Lockett then had Hair undress and raped her. After Alfonzo Lockett left Hair where she was and entered again, Lockett raped Hair vaginally and anally and made her perform oral sodomy on him, and then instructed her to get dressed to return to Sam’s bedroom with the others. Duct tape was then used to secure Hair’s and Neiman’s hands behind their backs, and tape was put across their mouths.

Lockett instructed Mathis to look in the garage for a shovel. The victims were then loaded into Bornt’s and Neiman’s pickups. Bornt and his son were placed in Lockett’s pickup; Hair and Neiman were placed in Neiman’s pickup with Mathis and Alfonzo Lockett. The group left Perry and drove to a rural area in Kay County. Lockett stopped on a country road, got out, and went over to Neiman’s pickup. Lockett made Hair get out and go with him to a ditch. Lockett raped Hair and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterward, Lockett took Hair back to Bornt’s pickup. Mathis then took Hair back to Neiman’s pickup where Hair was made to perform oral sex on Mathis. Mathis grabbed Hair’s head and told her: “In order for you to live, this is what you have got to do.”

While stopped on the country road, Lockett told Mathis to get the shovel and start digging. Bornt heard Lockett say: “Someone has got to go.” Neiman was taken to the hole dug by Mathis and Lockett shot her. The gun jammed, and Lockett came back up to fix it while Bornt could hear Neiman’s muffled screams. After the gun was fixed, Lockett went back down to the ditch and shot Neiman again. While Mathis buried Neiman’s body, Lockett and Alfonzo Lockett warned Bornt and Hair that if they told anyone they would be killed too.

The group then drove both pickups to another location, left Neiman’s pickup there, and returned to Bornt’s house in Bornt’s pickup. Lockett, Mathis, and Alfonzo Lockett dropped off Bornt, his son, and Hair at Bornt’s house and left in Bornt’s pickup. The following day, Bornt and Hair told the Perry police what had happened. Neiman’s pickup and her body were recovered and Lockett, Mathis, and Alfonzo Lockett were subsequently arrested.

Lockett ultimately confessed to police after multiple interviews, including a third interview in which he confessed to having killed Neiman.

Investigation and arrest

Police later recovered Neiman’s pickup and her body. All three men were subsequently arrested. The narrative included that police learned about the events about 9 a.m. Friday when one of the victims went to the police station to report what happened, and that deputies from Noble County and nearby Kay County spent several hours looking for Neiman before her body was found about 7:45 p.m. that same Friday. Police identified Clayton Derrell Lockett and Alfhonzo Laron Lockett Veasey (and also described that the teen gave the name Veasey Alfhonzo Lockett when he was jailed Friday night), and Shawn Mathis.

The attackers entered the house a short time earlier by smashing down the front door, and were described as being armed with a knife and a 12-gauge shotgun. Police suspected the three men were beating Bornt late Friday night at his house when Neiman and the 18-year-old woman arrived, and they were reported to have held Bornt, his son, and the two women in the house for the next several hours. Authorities described that during this time each of the three attackers raped one of the women. Eventually, the men ordered the captives into two pickups and drove them to a secluded spot in Kay County, took the victims out of the pickups, and shot Neiman.

Bornt and the 18-year-old woman were beaten and were treated and released at a local hospital. Bornt’s infant son was not harmed.

Trial

Charges and counts

Lockett was charged in the District Court of Noble County in Case No. CF-99-53 with Conspiracy (Count I), First Degree Burglary (Count II), Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Counts III, IV and V), Forcible Oral Sodomy (Counts VI, XV and XVI), First Degree Rape (Counts VII, VIII, IX and XIV), Kidnapping (Counts X, XI, XII and XIII), Robbery by Force and Fear (Counts XVII and XVIII) and First Degree Murder (Count XIX). Counts I-XVIII were alleged to have occurred after former conviction of two or more felonies.

Aggravating circumstances and sentencing allegations

For First Degree Murder (Count XIX), the State filed a Bill of Particulars alleging five aggravating circumstances: (1) that Lockett was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence, (2) that Lockett knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person, (3) that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, (4) that the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution, and (5) that there exists a probability that Lockett would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.

Verdict and punishment assessed

The jury found Lockett guilty on all counts and assessed punishment at forty-five years on Count I, sixty years on each of Counts II and V, seventy-five years on Count III, ninety days on Count IV, one hundred fifty years on each of Counts VI and XVI, one hundred seventy-five years on Count VII, two hundred fifty years on each of Counts VIII and XIV, two hundred years on Count IX, one hundred years on each of Counts X, XI, XII and XIII, three hundred years on Count XV, and eighty-five years on each of Counts XVII and XVIII. For Count XIX, First Degree Murder, the jury found the existence of each alleged aggravating circumstance and assessed punishment at death.

The trial court sentenced Lockett accordingly, ordering the sentences be served consecutively.

Voir dire issue

Lockett argued that parts of the voir dire were conducted in his absence, violating constitutional and statutory rights. The record reflected that the majority of voir dire was conducted in open court and in his presence, but jurors were questioned individually in chambers without him present, while defense counsel was present and lodged no objection. The court held that in the future the trial court should hold all voir dire proceedings within the presence of the defendant, but in this case denied relief, finding it did not deny Lockett constitutional rights or operate to deny a fair trial.

Appeals

Direct appeal: Lockett v. State

Lockett v. State, 53 P.3d 418 (Okla. Crim. App. 2002), affirmed. The holdings described included: (1) examination of jurors outside Lockett’s presence did not require reversal; (2) evidence was sufficient to support convictions for aiding and abetting oral sodomy and rape; (3) counsel’s failure to present defense to crimes charged did not constitute complete concession of guilt; (4) counsel was not ineffective; (5) use of non-violent burglary conviction to support continuing threat aggravating circumstance did not deprive fair sentencing proceeding; and (6) evidence of unadjudicated crimes was sufficiently reliable to support application of continuing threat aggravating circumstance.

Habeas appeal: Lockett v. Trammel

Lockett v. Trammel, 711 F.3d 1218 (10th Cir. Okla. 2013), affirmed denial of habeas relief. The described holdings included: (1) erroneous exclusion of social worker Joyce Turner’s testimony did not have a “substantial and injurious effect” on the jury’s death sentence; (2) admission of victim impact evidence in violation of Lockett’s Eighth Amendment rights did not have a “substantial and injurious effect” on the jury’s sentence; (3) Strickland applied rather than Cronic in analyzing defense counsel effectiveness; and (4) defense counsel’s performance was strategic and not constitutionally deficient.

Outcome and final status

Lockett was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on April 29, 2014. He was pronounced dead at 7:06 p.m. in the execution chamber from a heart attack.