Arizona inmate Samuel Lopez to be executed in new open process

Samuel Lopez

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) - Witnesses expect to be able to see prison officials inject a lethal drug into a condemned inmate for the first time in Arizona history on Wednesday, when the state is scheduled to execute its fourth prisoner of the year.

Arizona opened up the process after a federal judge recently sided with The Associated Press and other news organizations in Idaho to allow witnesses full viewing access to lethal injections.

Until now, witnesses from the news media, the state and victims' family members walked into the death chamber at the state prison in Florence after the inmates had been injected and covered with a sheet up to their chest or neck. Once the witnesses were in place, the drugs then coursed through the inmates' veins.

Now witnesses will see the actual injection, something that defense attorneys sought in an effort to ensure inmates don't experience any unnecessary pain.

Lopez was sentenced to die for the brutal rape and murder of a 59-year-old Phoenix woman in 1986. Of the 126 inmates on Arizona's death row, only five have been there longer than him.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his last appeal on Tuesday, paving the way of the execution. He also lost a number of last-minute efforts to avoid the death penalty, including a request with the state Supreme Court to delay his execution until Arizona has a new governor. He claimed that Gov. Jan Brewer and the state's clemency board were prejudiced against him.

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Source: nbc29.com, AP, June 27, 2012

Arizona death-row inmate loses last appeal

PHOENIX (AP) - A death-row inmate set to be executed in Arizona on Wednesday has lost his last appeal, clearing the way for the lethal injection to proceed.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a request from Samuel Villegas Lopez to delay his execution to consider arguments that his trial attorneys were incompetent.

Now nothing stands in the way of Lopez's 10 a.m. execution at the state prison in Florence for the Oct. 29, 1986, brutal rape and murder of a 59-year-old Phoenix woman.

If the execution proceeds, he will be the fourth inmate to be executed in Arizona this year.

For the first time in state history, witnesses will be able to view the actual injection before the lethal drugs are administered. Before, inmates were injected behind closed doors before witnesses were allowed to come in as the fatal dose was given.

Source: AP, June 27, 2012

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