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| Arizona execution lasts two hours as killer Joseph Wood left 'snorting and gasping' for air | Arizona execution lasts two hours as killer Joseph Wood left 'snorting and gasping' for air |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A “bungled” execution in the US has seen a convicted murderer survive for nearly two hours after an injection of lethal drugs. | A “bungled” execution in the US has seen a convicted murderer survive for nearly two hours after an injection of lethal drugs. |
| Witnesses at 55-year-old Joseph Wood’s state-sanctioned killing described how he started gasping for air a short time after the combination sedative and pain-killer were administered, and continued to do so for the next hour and a half. | Witnesses at 55-year-old Joseph Wood’s state-sanctioned killing described how he started gasping for air a short time after the combination sedative and pain-killer were administered, and continued to do so for the next hour and a half. |
| The execution took so long that Wood’s lawyers had time to file an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court while it was going on. | The execution took so long that Wood’s lawyers had time to file an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court while it was going on. |
| In their court filing demanding that the death be stopped, lawyers said: “He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour. He is still alive.” | In their court filing demanding that the death be stopped, lawyers said: “He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour. He is still alive.” |
| Arizona’s own Supreme Court also called an urgent hearing on the matter – and eventually learned of Wood’s death while their deliberations were still going on. | Arizona’s own Supreme Court also called an urgent hearing on the matter – and eventually learned of Wood’s death while their deliberations were still going on. |
| The state’s governor, Jan Brewer, has since said she is ordering a full review into the way Arizona executes its inmates. | The state’s governor, Jan Brewer, has since said she is ordering a full review into the way Arizona executes its inmates. |
| State attorney general Tom Horne said Wood was pronounced dead at 3.49pm local time, one hour and 57 minutes after the execution began. | State attorney general Tom Horne said Wood was pronounced dead at 3.49pm local time, one hour and 57 minutes after the execution began. |
| Victim Debbie Dietz's sister Jeanne Brown speaks during a news conference after the execution as her husband Richard Brown listens (AP) The case comes as US states with capital punishment struggle to cope with depleting lethal drug supplies, and is the third controversial execution this year. | |
| Arizona uses the same drug combination - the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone – that were involved in the killing of an Ohio prisoner in January who snorted and gasped during the 26 minutes it took him to die. | Arizona uses the same drug combination - the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone – that were involved in the killing of an Ohio prisoner in January who snorted and gasped during the 26 minutes it took him to die. |
| In Oklahoma, an inmate died of a heart attack in April, minutes after prison officials halted his execution because the drugs – a different set – were not being administered properly. | In Oklahoma, an inmate died of a heart attack in April, minutes after prison officials halted his execution because the drugs – a different set – were not being administered properly. |
| Wood's lawyers filed several appeals that were denied by the US Supreme Court to have greater transparency over the supply of the drugs, including which pharmacies they come from. | |
| They argued that the public have a right to know details including who makes the drugs and the qualifications of whoever carries out the execution itself. Such demands, which have increasingly become a delaying tactic in death row cases, have always been rejected amid concerns drug makers could be harassed. | |
| “States have been scrambling over the past many months to find new sources of drugs. They have been experimenting,” said Megan McCracken, of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law's Death Penalty Clinic. | “States have been scrambling over the past many months to find new sources of drugs. They have been experimenting,” said Megan McCracken, of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law's Death Penalty Clinic. |
| “These procedures are unreliable and the consequences are horrific.” | “These procedures are unreliable and the consequences are horrific.” |
| Defence lawyer Dale Baich said the execution should have taken 10 minutes, adding: “Arizona appears to have joined several other states who have been responsible for an entirely preventable horror - a bungled execution.” | Defence lawyer Dale Baich said the execution should have taken 10 minutes, adding: “Arizona appears to have joined several other states who have been responsible for an entirely preventable horror - a bungled execution.” |
| Wood was convicted of the double murder of his former girlfriend Debbie Dietz, 29, and her father Gene Dietz, 55, at their Tucson car repair garage in 1989. | Wood was convicted of the double murder of his former girlfriend Debbie Dietz, 29, and her father Gene Dietz, 55, at their Tucson car repair garage in 1989. |