PHOENIX (Reuters) - A convicted
double-murderer was due to be executed by lethal injection in Arizona on
Wednesday after his defense team failed in its legal bid to force the
state to disclose greater details about how he will be put to death.
Joseph Wood, 55, is one of six death row inmates who sued Arizona
last month arguing that secrecy surrounding the drugs used in
botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma violated their
constitutional rights.
On Saturday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put his execution
on hold, saying Wood could suffer "irreparable harm" unless the
state divulged information about the drugs and the qualifications of
the medical staff conducting the execution.
But on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Arizona
attorney general and lifted the stay of execution.
Wood's execution was set for 10 a.m. (1 p.m. EDT) in the state
prison in Florence, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Phoenix.
The others who brought the legal suit remain on death row.
Two problematic executions this year renewed controversy over
capital punishment and the way it is carried out.
In January, convicted rapist and murderer Dennis McGuire, 53, was
put to death in Ohio, using a sedative-painkiller mix of midazolam
and hydromorphone, the first such combination administered for a
lethal injection in the United States. The execution took about 25
minutes to complete, with McGuire reportedly convulsing and gasping
for breath.
In Oklahoma in April, convicted killer Clayton Lockett writhed in
pain and a needle became dislodged during his lethal injection at a
state prison. The execution was halted, but Lockett died about 30
minutes later of a heart attack.
Arizona, which has executed 36 people since reinstating the death
penalty in 1992, says it will also use midazolam and hydromorphone,
but in higher doses than in Ohio.
Arizona's last execution took place in October 2013 when Robert Glen
Jones Jr., 43, was put to death for murdering six people during two
robberies in Tucson in 1996.
Twenty-five people have been put to death nationwide this year,
according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Writing by Daniel Wallis;
Editing by Steve Gorman and Robin Pomeroy)
