A death row inmate in Oklahoma died of a heart attack after his execution was halted because the lethal injection of three drugs failed to work properly.
Clayton Lockett, 38, experienced a vein failure which prevented the drug cocktail from being fully effective.
The execution was halted after 20 minutes, during which he writhed and shook uncontrollably, US media report.
The execution of fellow inmate Charles Warner, due to take place just two hours later, was postponed for 14 days.
A spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections told US media that Lockett had died of a heart attack following injection of three lethal drugs.
"We believe that a vein was blown and the drugs weren't working as they were designed to. The director ordered a halt to the execution," corrections department spokesman Jerry Massie said.
Prison officials pulled a curtain across the view of witnesses when it became apparent that something had gone wrong.
"He was conscious and blinking, licking his lips even after the process began. He then began to seize," Associated Press news agency reporter Bailey Elise McBride tweeted from the scene.
"This was botched, and it was difficult to watch," said David Autry, one of Lockett's lawyers.
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