That's the headline from ABC News. The report is written by Ariane De Vogue.
Hours before the scheduled execution of an Arizona death row inmate, the Department of Justice informed the state that it should not use a controversial drug as part of the execution protocol because the state had illegally obtained the drug from a foreign source.
The last-minute move stunned lawyers for convicted murderer Donald Beaty who had argued for months that Arizona hadn't been in compliance with federal law regarding the importation of sodium thiopental, one of the three drugs commonly used for lethal injection executions . The drug is no longer manufactured in the U.S.
The chief judge of the Arizona Supreme Court issued an unusual late night order delaying the execution.
Arizona had consistently argued that it had properly obtained the drug.
In a filing with the Arizona's Supreme Court the state's Attorney General said that it in order to "avoid questions about the legality " of the drug it had decided to comply with the request from United States Associate Deputy Attorney General Deborah A. Johnston.
In the filing it said it planned to substitute another fast-acting barbiturate—pentobarbital—for the sodium thiopental. Arizona law allows it to change its protocol without hearings and legislative review required by some other states?
Long before the surprise announcement from Arizona's prison, Dale Baich, Beaty's public defender, had contacted the Department of Justice seeking guidance why the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had seized the drug from five other states this year but not Arizona.
The DEA seized the imported drug from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee informing prison officials that it believed they had failed to follow federal importation laws. But the agency it did not seize the drug from Arizona and four other states who had also obtained the drug from abroad.
And:
After the announcement Baich said, "The question of whether Arizona legally imported the drug has now been answered."
Also:
"In order for states to import controlled substances such as Sodium Thiopental, the importer has to file a declaration with the DEA that shows a DEA approved importer, that the importer has a proper DEA registration number and provides an explanation of where the drugs are coming from and why," says Natasha Minsker, director of the ACLU of Northern California's Death Penalty Policy Program.
She says that her group filed a freedom of information request with the DEA for Arizona's import declarations and received nothing that would show the drug was properly imported.
"Arizona's eleventh-hour switch to another execution drug is unconscionable," says Minsker. "Rather than rushing to change the rules to carry out an execution, we all should be asking why state and federal officials failed for months to follow or enforce the law. The DEA and the Arizona Department of Corrections have known for months that Arizona possessed illegal sodium thiopental. Yet, they waited until hours before a scheduled execution to act, and then only because the illegal conduct was brought into the light of day by lawsuits and public pressure. A death penalty in any state that disregards both federal law and basic concepts of fairness makes a mockery of justice in our whole country."
The Department of Justice refused to comment on the case, or explain why it believes that Arizona properly imported the drug.
According to one of the DEA documents obtained by the ACLU, Mark Caverly, chief of the liaison and policy section of DEA's Diversion Control, laid out the agency's policy . In a letter to the Washington State Penitentiary, Caverly wrote: "Any person seeking to import a controlled substance into the United States must obtain a DEA registration… and utilize the services of a DEA registered importer. DEA has no authority to waive a statutory requirement."
"Arizona Supreme Court stops scheduled execution for inmate," is the AP report via the Arizona Republic.
The Arizona Supreme Court has halted the planned execution of inmate Donald Beaty, who was scheduled to be given a lethal injection Wednesday morning for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old Tempe girl in 1984.
The temporary stay of execution was issued late Tuesday night after Arizona officials said they had planned to replace one of three drugs to be used in the execution because federal officials contended the state failed to fill out a form to import the drug being swapped out
That prompted Beaty's lawyers to file motions seeking the stay of execution from the state's highest court and the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, arguing he hadn't had adequate opportunity to review the late change in drug protocol.
Defense attorney Dale Baich said "a rush to execute Beaty under these circumstances would be unconscionable."
The court set a hearing on the matter for Wednesday morning.
The attorney general's office notified the state Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Corrections Department would replace sodium thiopental with another sedative -- pentobarbital.
The state's filing said the Corrections Department was making the swap because a U.S. Justice Department official told the state the Drug Enforcement Administration believes the Corrections Department "failed to fill out one of the forms necessary for importation of sodium thiopental from a foreign source."
Defense lawyers for Arizona death row inmates for months have questioned whether the state legally imported its supply of sodium thiopental. State officials previously acknowledged a miscoding on an importation form but insisted they acted legally in obtaining a supply of sodium thiopental from a British supplier last year.
"The question of whether the Department of Corrections legally imported the drug has now been answered," Baich said before the temporary stay was granted.
Several other states have already switched to pentobarbital because sodium thiopental is in short supply nationally, and state Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said previously that Arizona planned to switch to that drug also.
The Arizona Supreme Court's order is available in Adobe .pdf format. Earlier lethal injection coverage from Arizona begins at the link. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
I'll update with a new post as developments warrant
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