Questions raised over Arizona’s execution team

Arizona Death Chamber

An attorney for a death-row inmate in Arizona is raising questions about who will carry out the state’s executions after the physician who conducted the last 5 said he won’t do them anymore and the other execution team member’s arrest record came to light.

In a letter to the Arizona Department of Corrections sent late Wednesday, attorney Dale Baich asked whether a new execution team was in place for the state’s upcoming executions, and if so, whether the department has conducted proper background checks and verified the medical licenses of the team.

Baich also pointed out that with the former medical team leader bowing out, the department was left with the team’s only other member — a Yuma-based corrections officer who lacks a medical license and has an arrest record for drunken driving and public intoxication.

The officer assisted the medical-team leader on the state’s last 5 executions by inserting intravenous lines.

The identities of both medical team members have been withheld for their protection.

Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux could not immediately say Thursday whether a new execution team has been chosen.

The qualifications of the medical team and other aspects of the way Arizona conducts its execution were the subject of a recent lawsuit filed by Baich arguing the state’s execution practices violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Among the suit’s claims was that the state deviated from a court-approved execution protocol by using improperly vetted personnel to administer lethal injections under a sheet, away from witnesses’ view.

But Baich lost his arguments Dec. 21 when Judge Neil Wake dismissed his lawsuit, saying the state did not violate inmates’ constitutional rights by deviating from written execution protocol. Baich is appealing the decision to the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Baich said Thursday the correction officer’s arrest record “is a concern” and that his background administering IVs in the military doesn’t qualify him to help carry out executions, especially since his service ended in 1996 and he is not a licensed medical professional.

“It’s clear that the state did not follow the protocol in the last 5 executions in terms of selecting the medical team,” Baich said.

Meanwhile, the execution-team leader who was in charge of the last 5 executions, most recently on July 19, said during an hours-long deposition in October that he would no longer participate in executions and didn’t know anyone who could take over for him.

The team leader cited the “very unpleasant” deposition that had attorneys questioning his background, medical qualifications and the intricate details of how executions were carried out. “It’s not really anything that I care to go through again,” he said, according to court records.

In his letter, Baich also raises questions over what drug will be used in the scheduled March 8 execution of his client, Robert Charles Towery, who was convicted of killing a man while robbing his home in 1991.

Another inmate, Robert Henry Moormann, is set to be executed eight days before that, on Feb. 29, for killing and dismembering his adoptive mother in Florence while on a “compassionate” furlough from prison. His lawyers did not return calls for comment Thursday about whether they share Baich’s concerns.

Corrections Director Charles Ryan announced in May that the state would be changing its execution protocol and switching from using 3 drugs to just 1.

The announcement came after defense attorneys claimed the state broke federal law when it imported sodium thiopental — one of its execution drugs — from Great Britain. The drug was listed in forms as being intended for “animals (food processing),” rather than humans, and the attorneys argued the drug could lead to severe pain during an execution.

Assistant Attorney General Kent Cattani has denied that Arizona broke the law, and said the paperwork mistake came from a clerical error by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He has said the state is switching to 1 drug because of a U.S. shortage of sodium thiopental, not because of any alleged ineffectiveness.

Source: Associated Press, January 21, 2012

Comments

South Carolina | Inmate who believes he’s died repeatedly can’t be executed, judge rules

SPARTANBURG — A 59-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a state trooper in Greenville County in 2000 can’t be executed because of a mental illness that’s left him incoherent and believing he’s immortal, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. John Richard Wood is the first condemned inmate in South Carolina found not competent to be executed since the state restarted capital punishment in September 2024. The seven executions since then include three men who chose to die by firing squad — the latest in November. Wood, convicted 24 years ago, was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting their regular appeals.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

Florida executes James Ernest Hitchcock

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977. Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was execu...

China | Man sentenced to death for murder executed in Yunnan

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

Texas | James Broadnax's appeals: US Supreme Court denies 2 claims, confession pending

Despite an 11th-hour confession from another man, James Broadnax is slated to be executed by the state of Texas later this week. Broadnax, 37, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection April 30 in Huntsville. He was condemned by a Dallas County jury in 2009 for the deaths of Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside their Garland music studio. Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had set out to rob the men, but left with only $2 and a 1995 Ford, according to previous reporting from The Dallas Morning News.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Iran to execute first woman linked to mass protests after ‘forced confessions’

Bita Hemmati and three others have been sentenced to death for 'collusion' and 'propaganda.' Advocates claim the charges are baseless, citing a secretive process and state-televised interrogations. Iranian authorities are preparing to execute Bita Hemmati, the first woman sentenced to death in connection with the mass protests in Tehran in late December and January, according to the US-based non-profit the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Judge Iman Afshari, of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, sentenced Hemmati, her husband, Mohammadreza Majidi Asl, and Behrouz Zamaninezhad, and Kourosh Zamaninezhad to death on the charge of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” in addition to discretionary imprisonment period of five years on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Florida executes Chadwick Scott Willacy

STARKE, Fla. -- A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida's fifth execution this year. The curtain to the execution chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. time, and the lethal injection got underway two minutes later, after Willacy made a brief statement.

US Department of Justice announces decision to resume federal executions

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that it will resume the federal use of capital punishment and that it is seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. DOJ also said that it will use firing squads, electrocution, or nitrogen asphyxiation if the drug used in lethal injection is unavailable. The announcement follows the Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty report, published on April 24. The report is especially critical of the moratorium on federal executions, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021, to remain until the death penalty could be conducted “fairly and humanely.” Garland was concerned about the federal lethal injection protocol, which uses only one drug, pentobarbital, and the possibility that it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering.” In response to Garland’s moratorium and concerns, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row, leaving only three prisoners.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog