The Arizona Republic posts, "Arizona inmate executed for 1986 murder," by Bob Ortega and Michael Kiefer.
The execution procedure began shortly before 10 a.m., as a group of six prison medical team members inserted intravenous catheters into Lopez's arms. Lopez chatted with them and winced slightly, as government representatives, media, attorneys and Holmes's family members watched on closed-circuit TV. Then prison officials opened the curtains between the death chamber and the witness area. The execution began at 10:08 a.m. and ended at 10:37 a.m., taking more than twice as long as recent prior executions.
Lopez blinked, yawned, breathed rapidly, then his mouth dropped open, witnesses said.
On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court declined without comment his appeal for a stay. One aspect of Lopez's death marked a departure from prior recent executions in Arizona, including three earlier this year, after extended legal disputes. For the first time, the Department of Corrections allowed witnesses to watch, via close-circuit cameras, as executioners inserted the intravenous catheters that deliver the fatal drug, pentobarbital, into the condemned man.
Previously, the department only allowed the curtain between observers and the inmate to be pulled back after the catheters were in place. Where and how the catheters were inserted in earlier executions led to legal accusations that the department was engaging in cruel and unusual punishment. Corrections officials have said that problems finding suitable veins in the condemned man's arms or legs have forced them to insert catheters into the groin area.
As in past executions, Lopez was told by officials that his microphone would be cut off if he said anything offensive. In March, as convicted murder Robert Towery was being executed, officials refused his requests to speak with his attorney as medical staff repeatedly stuck him without being able to find a vein, eventually using his groin area. Towery communicated with his attorney by code during his last words.
Defense attorneys in Arizona have repeatedly brought these issues to court; the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that no part of an execution should be shielded from media witnesses.
"Arizona inmate executed in new open process," is the AP filing, via KTAR-FM.
Death-row inmate Samuel Villegas Lopez stared straight ahead Wednesday as he lay strapped to a table in Arizona's execution chamber, wincing slightly as two catheters that soon would deliver a fatal drug were inserted into his veins.
Lopez's execution was the first in Arizona history in which witnesses other than prison officials saw catheters inserted into an inmate's veins- a move the state Department of Corrections made after a federal judge recently sided with The Associated Press and Idaho news organizations seeking full viewing access to lethal injections.
The ruling was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, meaning it was unlikely Arizona would have been able to keep its process limited much longer.
Until Wednesday, news media and victims' family members entered the death chamber at the state prison only after the inmate had been injected and covered with a sheet to his chest or neck.
This time, they watched on television screens set up in the death chamber as the execution team inserted Lopez with the catheters behind a curtain. The curtain was lifted just before a fatal dose of pentobarbital was sent coursing through Lopez's veins.
During the process, Lopez blinked often and showed no signs he was experiencing pain, although he slightly winced once.
As the execution team checked his veins, Lopez asked, "It look all right?" to which they responded: "We're doing good."
Toward the end, Lopez said he had a question: "Are these the only two IV lines going to be inserted in me?"
Once the curtains were pulled, Lopez stared straight ahead and ignored the nine family members of his murder victim who were in the room to watch him die. When asked if he had last words, he said in a clear voice: "No, I do not."
As the drug was delivered, Lopez began breathing heavily, closing his eyes and yawning once before he appeared to fall asleep with his mouth slightly open. He didn't move again after that.
The execution ended at 10:37 a.m., about 40 minutes after the insertion process began. Unlike Idaho, Arizona did not allow witnesses watch as Lopez was brought into the death chamber and strapped to the table at his ankles and wrists and over his torso.
Dale Baich, a defense attorney who witnessed the execution and represents many death-row inmates in Arizona, said the new process was a "step forward in creating transparency." But he said he hopes the Corrections Department eventually will allow witnesses to view the process from the very beginning.
Earlier coverage of the revised Arizona execution procedure begins at the link.
Lopez' execution was the 23rd in American states in 2012. There have now been a total of 1,300 post-Furman excutions since 1977. Today's was Arizona's fourth in 2012.
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