FEATURED POST

California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

Image
California is transferring everyone on death row at San Quentin prison to other places, as it tries to reinvent the state's most notorious facility as a rehabilitation centre. Many in this group will now have new freedoms. But they are also asking why they've been excluded from the reform - and whether they'll be safe in new prisons. Keith Doolin still remembers the day in 2019 when workers came to dismantle one of the United States' most infamous death chambers.

Executed Killer Joseph Wood Died In Middle of Emergency Hearing

An Arizona judge was in the middle of an emergency telephone hearing on the execution of Joseph Wood when word came that the inmate had finally died after more than an hour of what witnesses have described as gasping.

A transcript of the hearing shows that 45 minutes after defense lawyers filed a motion asking that Wood's execution be stopped because he was still alive, no decision had been made.

The parties — U.S. District Judge Neil Wake, a lawyer from the state attorney general's office, and Wood's attorney — were discussing whether stopping the execution would cause pain when the question became moot.

"I just learned that the IV team leader has confirmed Mr. Wood's death," said Jeff Zick, an attorney for the state.

The process took nearly two hours, with a member of the medical team checking eight times to see if the double-murderer was still alive, state officials said.

Midway through the execution, Wood's legal team filed for an emergency stay of execution and asked the court to order prison officials to try to resuscitate him.

The judge was summoned from a meeting, and Wood's lawyer Robin Konrad told him by phone that since her client had been sedated at 1:57 p.m., "he has been gasping, snorting, and unable to breathe and not dying."


Source: NBC News, July 24, 2014


Arizona lawyers appeal for emergency stay during two-hour execution – read the court transcript

Transcript of the frantic telephone court session that took place during the execution of Joseph Wood in Arizona on Wednesday. Wood's execution lasted for so long that lawyers filed a motion for an emergency stay some 90 minutes into the botched procedure. Wood died while the court hearing was still ongoing.

Click here to read the court transcript

Source: The Guardian, July 24, 2014

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

‘A Short Film About Killing’: The movie that brought an end to the Polish death penalty

California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

Bali | British grandmother on death row for more than 10 years for drug smuggling given ‘one final hope of escape'

Congo reinstates death penalty after 20-year hiatus

Georgia Court Case Tests the Limits of Execution Secrecy in the United States

Georgia | Death penalty trial for accused Atlanta spa shooter in limbo

Alabama | Judge formally imposes death penalty on man who gunned down Mobile cop

Malaysia | Death sentence commuted for ex-cop who killed toddler, babysitter

Iran | Man executed in Qazvin