Arizona inmate Donald Beaty granted temporary stay of execution

Donald Beaty

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has halted the planned execution of inmate Donald Beaty, who was scheduled to be given a lethal injection Wednesday morning for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old Tempe girl in 1984.

The temporary stay of execution was issued late Tuesday night after Arizona officials said they had planned to replace one of three drugs to be used in the execution because federal officials contended the state failed to fill out a form to import the drug being swapped out.

That prompted Beaty’s lawyers to file motions seeking the stay of execution from the state’s highest court and the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, arguing he hadn’t had adequate opportunity to review the late change in drug protocol.

Defense attorney Dale Baich said “a rush to execute Beaty under these circumstances would be unconscionable.”

The court set a hearing on the matter for Wednesday morning.

The attorney general’s office notified the state Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Corrections Department would replace sodium thiopental with another sedative — pentobarbital.

The state’s filing said the Corrections Department was making the swap because a U.S. Justice Department official told the state the Drug Enforcement Administration believes the Corrections Department “failed to fill out one of the forms necessary for importation of sodium thiopental from a foreign source.”

Defense lawyers for Arizona death row inmates for months have questioned whether the state legally imported its supply of sodium thiopental. State officials previously acknowledged a miscoding on an importation form but insisted they acted legally in obtaining a supply of sodium thiopental from a British supplier last year.

“The question of whether the Department of Corrections legally imported the drug has now been answered,” Baich said before the temporary stay was granted.

Several other states have already switched to pentobarbital because sodium thiopental is in short supply nationally, and state Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said previously that Arizona planned to switch to that drug also.

DEA officials seized several states’ supplies of sodium thiopental because of importation issues.

The Arizona filing said DEA “has not taken any action against the Arizona Department of Corrections to date” and that the Justice Department official who contacted the department Tuesday “offered no explanation for the timing of the call.”

Department of Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined comment.

Natasha Minsker, death penalty policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of California, said Arizona’s “11th-hour switch to another execution drug” was unconscionable.

“Rather than rushing to change the rules to carry out an execution, we all should be asking why state and federal officials failed for months to follow or enforce the law,” Minsker said in a statement.

Source: AP, May 25, 2011

DOJ Tells Arizona it Illegally Obtained Death Penalty Drug

Hours before the scheduled execution of an Arizona death row inmate, the Department of Justice informed the state that it should not use a controversial drug as part of the execution protocol because the state had illegally obtained the drug from a foreign source.

The last-minute move stunned lawyers for convicted murderer Donald Beaty who had argued for months that Arizona hadn't been in compliance with federal law regarding the importation of sodium thiopental, one of the three drugs commonly used for lethal injection executions . The drug is no longer manufactured in the U.S.

The chief judge of the Arizona Supreme Court issued an unusual late night order delaying the execution.

Arizona had consistently argued that it had properly obtained the drug.

In a filing with the Arizona's Supreme Court the state's Attorney General said that it in order to "avoid questions about the legality " of the drug it had decided to comply with the request from United States Associate Deputy Attorney General Deborah A. Johnston.

In the filing it said it planned to substitute another fast-acting barbiturate—pentobarbital—for the sodium thiopental.

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Source: ABC News, May 25, 2011

May 25, 2011 - 04:14 p.m. Update

Courts refuse to block Arizona execution

PHOENIX (AP) — State and federal courts on Wednesday denied requests by inmate Donald Beaty to block his scheduled execution because of a last-minute replacement of one of three execution drugs.

The Arizona Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay that it issued late Tuesday after Beaty's lawyers objected to the state's announcement of the drug swap.

The justices later ruled 4-1 to lift the stay, with the majority saying Beaty's lawyers hadn't proved he was likely to be harmed by the change.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Phoenix refused to block the execution. And the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider two petitions filed on behalf of Beaty.

Beaty was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of 13-year-old Christy Ann Fornoff, of Tempe.

His lawyers objected to the planned drug switch that the state announced 18 hours before the now-passed scheduled execution time of 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The Arizona court issued the temporary stay Tuesday night after Arizona officials said they had planned to replace sodium thiopental with another sedative, pentobarbital, because federal officials contended the state failed to fill out a form to import a supply of the drug being swapped out.

Beaty defense attorney Jennifer Garcia said Beaty didn't object to using pentobarbital but that the last-minute switch denied his lawyers an opportunity to determine whether the new drug would be properly administered and avoid subjecting him to severe pain inflicted by another execution drug if the sedative isn't effective.

"It's not just a simple switch. There's certainly much more to it than that," she said.

Assistant Attorney General Kent Cattani said the only issue is whether the prison medical team, which includes a medical doctor, can mix and administer the drug. Beaty's defense hasn't offered any proof that there's a problem and the stay should be lifted, Cattani said.

The attorney general's office notified the state Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Corrections Department would replace sodium thiopental with pentobarbital.

The state's filing said the Corrections Department was making the swap because a U.S. Justice Department official told the state the Drug Enforcement Administration believes the Corrections Department "failed to fill out one of the forms necessary for importation of sodium thiopental from a foreign source."

Defense lawyers for Arizona death row inmates for months have questioned whether the state legally imported its supply of sodium thiopental. State officials previously acknowledged a miscoding on an importation form but insisted they acted legally in obtaining a supply of sodium thiopental from a British supplier last year.

"The question of whether the Department of Corrections legally imported the drug has now been answered," defense attorney Dale Baich said before the temporary stay was granted.

Several other states have already switched to pentobarbital because sodium thiopental is in short supply nationally, and state Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said previously that Arizona planned to switch to that drug also.

DEA officials seized several states' supplies of sodium thiopental because of importation issues.

The Arizona filing said DEA "has not taken any action against the Arizona Department of Corrections to date" and that the Justice Department official who contacted the department Tuesday "offered no explanation for the timing of the call."

Department of Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined comment.

Natasha Minsker, death penalty policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of California, said Arizona's "11th-hour switch to another execution drug" was unconscionable.

"Rather than rushing to change the rules to carry out an execution, we all should be asking why state and federal officials failed for months to follow or enforce the law," Minsker said in a statement.

Source: AP, May 25, 2011
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