Today's Arizona Republic reports, "Arizona sued over use of controversial execution drug." It's by Michael Kiefer.
Federal Public Defenders in Phoenix filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court for Arizona on behalf of convicted murderer Joseph Wood and five other death-row inmates, demanding more information about how the Arizona Department of Corrections obtained the drug Midazolam and how it will be used in Wood's execution.
Wood is scheduled to be put to death July 23 using a combination of drugs, including Midazolam, the same controversial drug used in botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma.
Wood, 55, was sentenced to death twice for killing his girlfriend, Debra Dietz, and her father, Eugene Dietz at a Tucson auto body shop in 1989.
On Wednesday, in conjunction with a team of attorneys from Oklahoma, the Phoenix Federal Defenders filed another lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma against the Oklahoma Department of Corrections on behalf of 21 death-row prisoners there, claiming that using Midazolam violated the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Both lawsuits refer to the use of Midazolam in executions by lethal injection as "experimental."
"Arizona death row inmate opposes 2-drug protocol," is AP coverage via the Arizona Daily Star.
Lawyers for Arizona inmate Joseph Wood have asked a federal court to stop his scheduled July 23 execution over concerns about the state’s two-drug protocol.
The 21-page complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court says the Arizona Department of Corrections plans to use midazolam and hydromorphone for the first time.
The previous 11 Arizona executions since 2011 used pentobarbital, but its sole manufacturer has refused to sell it to states for use in executions.
The Los Angeles Times reports, "Arizona death row inmates sue state over two-drug protocol," by Maya Srikrishnan.
The 21-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court states the Arizona Department of Corrections plans to use midazolam and hydromorphone for the first time.
Since 2011, Arizona has been using pentobarbital for executions, but the state sent Wood's lawyer a letter in April saying it was using this new combination because it can no longer procure pentobarbital, according to the complaint.
“I really think they’re making it up as they go along,” Dale Baich, Wood's attorney, told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday. “This type of review is necessary to ensure they’re complying with constitutional standards.”
"Death row inmates sue state over lethal drugs," by Gary Gradofor the Arizona Capitol Times.
Six death row inmates, including one scheduled to die July 23, sued the state today in federal court, alleging the secrecy surrounding the lethal drugs to be used in executions violates their First Amendment rights.
The inmates are asking U.S. District Court in Phoenix to keep the state from hiding any information about executions except the names of people involved in them. The inmates assert that the secrecy keeps them from mounting a case to challenge their executions in court.
"Death row inmates sue Arizona over lethal-injection drugs," is by Eric M. Johnson for Reuters, via the Enterprise Bulletin.
"The Arizona Department of Corrections has stonewalled requests for basic information about its lethal injection protocol and the drugs it plans to use to end Mr. Wood's life," his attorney, Dale Baich, said in a statement.
Attorneys in several U.S. states have argued that moves to keep hidden the identity and methods of lightly regulated pharmacies - to which they have turned to procure execution drugs in the face of sales bans - as well as details about drug purity and potency, is a violation of their clients' rights.
Ohio used midazolam and hydromorphone for the first time for an execution in January during which the condemned man, 53-year-old Dennis McGuire, was seen convulsing and gasping for breath.
You can view the federal lawsuit filed in Arizona, at the link.
Earlier coverage from Arizona begins at the link. Related posts are in the lethal injection category index.
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