BOTCHED

Inmate’s Execution Took Two Hours

“Alive and gasping” for hours.

The execution of an Arizona inmate took close to two hours. Joseph Wood died after “gasping and snorting” for hours following his lethal injection. The state attorney general released a statement that “The execution commenced at 1:52 p.m. at the Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC) Florence. He was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m.” An hour into the execution, Wood’s lawyer filed an emergency appeal in an Arizona federal court claiming that his client was “alive and gasping.” Wood, 55, had previously tried to fight his execution, claiming the state was violating his First Amendment rights because it would not reveal the source of its lethal-injection drugs. While an appeals court ruled in his favor, the Supreme Court lifted the stay. His lethal injection was a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone. Those same drugs were used for an Ohio inmate who struggled for 25 minutes after receiving a lethal injection. Woods was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her father in 1989.