A convicted murderer and 5 other death row inmates sued Arizona on Thursday
arguing the state's secrecy around lethal-injection drugs used in botched
executions in Ohio and Oklahoma violates their constitutional rights.
Joseph Wood, a 55-year-old sentenced to die on July 23 for 2 murders in an
auto-shop, and other prisoners argued in a complaint filed in an Arizona
federal court that prison officials concealed information about their plans to
use the sedative-painkiller combination midazolam and hydromorphone.
"The Arizona Department of Corrections has stonewalled requests for basic
information about its lethal injection protocol and the drugs it plans to use
to end Mr. Wood's life," his attorney, Dale Baich, said in a statement.
Attorneys in several U.S. states have argued that moves to keep hidden the
identity and methods of lightly regulated pharmacies - to which they have
turned to procure execution drugs in the face of sales bans - as well as
details about drug purity and potency, is a violation of their clients' rights.
Ohio used midazolam and hydromorphone for the 1st time for an execution in
January during which the condemned man, 53-year-old Dennis McGuire, was seen
convulsing and gasping for breath.
The Arizona suit was filed a day after 21 death-row inmates sued prison
officials in Oklahoma, alleging the use of midazolam is a violation of
constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, local media
reported.
In Oklahoma, the April execution of Clayton Lockett, who suffered an apparent
heart attack and died about 30 minutes after prison officials halted his
execution, sparked an uproar among death penalty opponents.
The Arizona lawsuit names as defendants Arizona Department of Corrections
Director Charles Ryan, two state prison wardens, and several unnamed officials
who participate in executions.
Source: Reuters, June 26, 2014
