COLUMBUS, Ohio

The botched execution of an Oklahoma inmate is certain to fire up the debate over what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment — the phrase written into the U.S. Constitution and defined by the courts, piece by piece, over two centuries.

Convicted killer Clayton Lockett, 38, began writhing, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head off the pillow Tuesday evening after he was supposedly rendered unconscious by the first of three drugs in the state’s new lethal injection combination.

The execution was halted, and Lockett died of a heart attack about a half-hour later, authorities said.

The use of custom-mixed, or compounded, drugs has opened a new line of attack for defense attorneys, who have demanded to know the identities of the drug suppliers. They have argued that deficiencies in the purity and potency of the drugs could cause a slow and torturous death.

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