HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Texas will carry out on Tuesday the first US execution since a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month unless attorneys for a man convicted of murdering a bank teller can convince a court that he runs the same risk of the punishment going awry.
Attorneys for condemned killer Robert Campbell cited in their appeal the Oklahoma case of Clayton Lockett, who died of an apparent heart attack on April 29 after Oklahoma prison officials stopped his execution.
Oklahoma has agreed to a six-month stay of execution for another inmate while the state conducts an investigation of the death of Lockett, who began writhing, clenching his teeth, and straining to lift his head after he was injected with lethal drugs last month.
It could take at least two months for a complete autopsy report to be received, Oklahoma officials said Monday.
In Texas, Campbell’s attorneys — citing the Oklahoma case that President Obama called ‘‘inhumane’’ — renewed arguments raised earlier that secrecy over the source of the pentobarbital drug to be used could mean that Campbell is subjected to unconstitutional pain and suffering.
‘‘Frighteningly, Texas is pursuing the path of secrecy in the midst of these deeply troubling events, and even in the immediate wake of events in Oklahoma,’’ said Maurie Levin, Campbell’s lead attorney in a federal civil rights suit.
Attorneys for the state of Texas disputed Levin’s arguments, saying they were ‘‘speculative’’ and did not demonstrate a significant risk of pain. Texas was not using a new method of execution and did not employ the three-drug procedure used in Oklahoma, they said.