Arizona death-row inmate Robert Moormann, who is scheduled to be executed Feb.29, was transported to an unnamed hospital Thursday after falling ill at the state prison in Florence, his attorney confirmed.
The Arizona Department of Corrections would not provide information -- even to Moormann's attorneys -- about Moormann's condition, but a department spokesman said Thursday afternoon that Moormann was still alive.
Moormann, 63, was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of his adoptive mother.
He has a history of health problems and was hospitalized twice last fall, first for an appendectomy and later for a quintuple heart bypass.
Arizona prison policy requires death-row inmates facing execution to be kept alive until the last minute before execution by lethal injection.
The execution protocol requires that a cardiac defibrillator "be readily available on site in the event that the inmate goes into cardiac arrest at any time prior to dispensing the chemicals; trained medical staff shall make every effort to revive the inmate should this occur."
In 1984, Moormann was already imprisoned in Florence when he was granted a "compassionate furlough" to visit with his adoptive mother at a motel near the prison. During the visit, he killed her and dismembered her, dumping her body in garbage cans.
In January, his attorneys argued that Moormann's deteriorating health had lessened his intellectual functioning to the point where he could not be legally executed.
Source: Arizona Republic, Feb. 18, 2012
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