Lawyers representing death row inmates are asking the court to continue to prevent the Arizona Department of Corrections from carrying out any executions. The hold on executions is in place until a legal dispute is resolved.
The case challenges the state’s lethal-injection protocol. It stems from the July 2014 so called “botched” execution of Joseph Wood. He was given 14 doses of two midazolam and hydromorphone. The execution took nearly two hours. That prompted a review of his execution by the Department of Corrections, which found the protocol and standards are in line with other states'.
The court ordered the Department of Corrections detail the drugs they intend to use in future executions. The department submitted three combinations to the court earlier this month, but didn’t specify which would be used. The department is also in a dispute with the Food and Drug Administration after it tried to illegally import sodium thiopental.
