Gov. Brewer: 'Wood died in a lawful manner', but will order an internal review
On Wednesday evening Arizona executed inmate Joseph Wood by lethal injection; the drugs used in the process were "secret," as were the methods Arizona used to obtain them, and the process resulted in the convicted taking
nearly two hours to die.
One reporter who witnessed the execution, Troy Hayden of Fox 10 News, said it was "very disturbing to watch ... like a fish on shore gulping for air. At a certain point, you wondered whether he was ever going to die."
Lawyers filed a emergency motion with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
after this had gone on for an hour to halt the execution; Wood died before the court responsed. Now his attorneys are calling for
an external inquiry.
“There is far too much that we don’t know at this point, including information about the drugs, why Arizona selected these drugs and amounts, the qualifications of the execution team, and more,” Baich said in a statement. “It is important for the people of Arizona to get answers, and only an independent investigation can provide the transparency needed following an execution cloaked in secrecy that went wrong.”
Charlie Pierce notes that executing prisoners using secret and previously untested methods amounts plainly to
human medical experimentation. This wasn't a "botched" execution, this was an execution conducted as intended using a secret concoction devised by the state. They offered no proof it would work or that it would not be cruel and unusual; the convict was the (first) intended test subject.