--- title: Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling' description: It was the President's first time weighing in on an execution gone wrong in Oklahoma canonical: https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-02T17:00:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:23.013Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling' og:description: It was the President's first time weighing in on an execution gone wrong in Oklahoma og:url: https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10352254cacecfd4/69868d99cd6848226109473b/172c88d8306146169863d06ca4265ea4-0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling' twitter:description: It was the President's first time weighing in on an execution gone wrong in Oklahoma twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10352254cacecfd4/69868d99cd6848226109473b/172c88d8306146169863d06ca4265ea4-0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling' ## Video: Oklahoma Botches Execution [Watch (HLS stream): Oklahoma Botches Execution](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5bYam3AB.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2014-04-30. Oklahoma botched a death row inmate's lethal injection so badly his vein exploded and he died of a heart attack._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 2, 2014 5:00 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama answers a question during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House in Washington, D.C., May 2, 2014. U.S. President Barack Obama answers a question during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House in Washington, D.C., May 2, 2014.Charles Dharapak—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 2, 2014 5:00 PM UTC President Barack Obama weighed in for the first time Friday on [the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma](http://time.com/82787/oklahoma-botched-execution-clayton-lockett-lethal-injection-problems/) this week, calling the incident “deeply troubling.” Speaking to reporters from the White House Rose Garden, Obama raised questions about the way the death penalty is applied in the United States, even as he said continues to believe the death penalty is warranted in particularly heinous instances. “In the application of the death penalty in this country we have seen significant problems: Racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, situations in which there were individuals on death row who were later discovered to be innocent because of exculpatory evidence,” Obama said, adding that the Oklahoma incident “highlights” the broader issue. Obama said he will discuss the incident, and broader government policy toward the death penalty, with Attorney General Eric Holder. “I think as a society we have to ask ourselves some difficult and profound questions,” Obama said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/"},"headline":"Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling'","datePublished":"2014-05-02T17:00:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:23.013Z","description":"It was the president's first time weighing in on an execution gone wrong in Oklahoma, and he promised to discuss the incident and broader government policy toward the death penalty with Attorney General Eric Holder","url":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10352254cacecfd4/69868d99cd6848226109473b/172c88d8306146169863d06ca4265ea4-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10352254cacecfd4/69868d99cd6848226109473b/172c88d8306146169863d06ca4265ea4-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Charles Dharapak—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/","name":"Obama Says Botched Oklahoma Execution 'Deeply Troubling'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Oklahoma Botches Execution","description":"Oklahoma botched a death row inmate's lethal injection so badly his vein exploded and he died of a heart attack.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5bYam3AB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-30T15:50:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5bYam3AB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/86034/obama-says-botched-oklahoma-execution-deeply-troubling/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```