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On the day that Richard Glossip was supposed to die, the warden noticed that the third drug in the drug cocktail they were about to prepare was potassium acetate, not potassium chloride. The warden opted to keep quiet about this realization. Later, they were asked why in front of the grand jury."When I seen it, I thought it was the same thing," the warden testified. "And I reflected on the way that we had done it previously with the accountabilities to ensure—I didn't know—when the drugs were brought down, I didn't know the pharmacist that we use or the pharmacy. I didn't know who ordered the drugs. That's not part of my job duty. I didn't know it hadn't been looked at, I assumed it had been. I assumed that what the pharmacist provided was that [sic] we needed. So in my mind, that potassium acetate must have been the same thing as potassium chloride."So the IV team members proceeded to draw up the syringes. At that point, one of them also noticed the drug discrepancy and alerted prison authorities.Over the next few hours, as Richard Glossip awaited his execution, state officials debated whether to proceed with the killing or to stop it. Governor Mary Fallin's General Counsel pushed to go ahead with the execution after the doctor and pharmacist both said potassium acetate and potassium chloride were medically interchangeable."Google it," the Governor's General Counsel told the attorney general's office, which wanted to halt the execution.
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