It doesn't mean they will be put to death in a hydrogen cyanide cloud, only that they can be.
Arizona law lets inmates convicted of death penalty offenses before November 1992 choose how they want to die: gas or lethal injection.
But lawyers for two men at the top of the state's execution list said the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry can't be trusted to carry out either method correctly. The agency already has botched the purchase of gas chamber chemicals and is misleading the public about pharmaceuticals needed to properly administer the death penalty, the lawyers said.
State bought potassium cyanide instead of sodium cyanide
The lawyers point to documents showing state officials purchased a different type of cyanide than the one called for in the state's newly published protocols for administering a gas chamber execution. They bought potassium cyanide instead of sodium cyanide.
"They got the wrong form of cyanide. What they have procured is a different chemical than what is called for," lawyer Joe Perkovich said. "It's terrifying. Especially when you look at the two forms of taking my client's life."
State officials also have refused to disclose the source of the materials they are using to make pentobarbital, one of the chemicals used in the lethal injection process, Perkovich said.
Officials maintain that the pentobarbital has a 90-day shelf life, double the 45 days after which medical journals say it begins losing its potency, said Perkovich, whose nonprofit law firm represents defendants in death penalty cases.
"We're supposed to accept that on faith," Perkovich said.
Neither Gov. Doug Ducey nor Attorney General Mark Brnovich would answer questions on Thursday.
Zyklon B
Plans to refurbish the gas chamber generated national attention after The Guardian newspaper reported the state was planning to kill inmates using "the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz."
Zyklon B, as the Nazis called it, is hydrogen cyanide. According to The Guardian, the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry bought potassium cyanide, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid to generate the deadly gas.
Brnovich's office referred questions about executions to the Department of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections responded with references to state statutes, department policy and a one-sentence statement:
"ADCRR, along with the Arizona Attorney General's Office, are prepared to fulfill its constitutional obligations, carry out court orders and deliver justice to the victims' families," it said in an email.
All of this comes after the Arizona Attorney General's Office in April filed notices of intent to seek the first warrants of execution in seven years. Convicted killers Frank Atwood and Clarence Dixon are the first slated for execution.
The state suspended executions in 2014 after an inmate was given a lethal injection and died horrifically in front of shocked witnesses.
Joseph Wood snorted and gasped for air for nearly two hours as his lawyers attempted to reach Arizona judges and halt the execution. The manner of his death led to lawsuits and a suspension of executions. It required the state to adopt a new lethal injection cocktail and go through a lengthy process to find approved drugs.
In March, Department of Corrections Director David Shinn notified Brnovich that his agency "now stands ready" to once again execute prisoners.
"Over the past months, at the direction of Governor Ducey, the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry has been working diligently to obtain the drugs necessary to implement executions in the state of Arizona, and to identify sources to prepare the drugs in compliance with Arizona law," Shinn wrote in the March 10 letter.
The same day, the department updated protocols for using lethal gas in a four-page amendment, documents on the Department of Corrections website show.
The protocol specifically calls for using sodium cyanide packets.
"Chemical Operator #2 shall place the sodium cyanide packets in the gas valve pot ... under the chair," the protocol states.
Invoices and purchase orders obtained by The Guardian under the Arizona Public Records Law, however, show the department purchased a brick of potassium cyanide for $1,529.
Both sodium and potassium cyanide are solid salt compounds that can be dissolved in water. They can form a hydrogen cyanide gas when mixed with acid. They have different applications, according to scientific journals.
Perkovich, who represents Atwood, said the contradiction between the state's cyanide purchase and the protocol "speaks to a larger concern" about the Department of Corrections.
"Apart from the gravity of it ... the mechanics of it (putting an inmate to death) should not be left to people who cannot order the right chemicals," he said.
His concerns about the Department of Corrections are echoed by Federal Public Defender's Office Supervisor Dale Baich. He said the state for years has tried to keep secret problems with chemicals used for lethal injections.
"This goes back to 2010, when it was caught using illegally imported drugs," Baich said. "They violated the Food and Drugs and Cosmetics Act. In 2015, they tried the same thing again and got caught."
Baich, who represents Dixon, said the state has so far refused to disclose where it got the $1.5 million it used to buy the new lethal injection drugs or disclose where they came from.
17 inmates eligible to select gas chamber
There are 17 inmates on Arizona's death row eligible to choose the gas chamber.
It shouldn't be an option for any of them, Baich said. He pointed to other states that have successfully retired outdated methods of execution.
"It is hard to comprehend that Arizona is considering using lethal gas to carry out executions," Baich said. "Arizona should not take this gratuitous and brutal turn to the past."
He said the state could amend the law so prisoners aren't asked to make the macabre choice between gas and injection. If an inmate refuses to make a decision, the state's default is lethal injection.
"What is key is that the prisoner is sentenced to death," Baich said.
The last inmate to opt for the gas chamber over lethal injection was Walter LaGrand in 1999.
LaGrand was convicted in 1984 for his role in the stabbing death of Kenneth Hartsock, the manager of a Marana bank that he and his brother, Karl, unsuccessfully tried to rob.
Karl was executed by lethal injection days before Walter.
An eyewitness account of his execution in the Tucson Citizen said it took Walter LaGrand 18 minutes to die. As he was enveloped in a toxic cloud, his agonized choking and gagging went on for several minutes, the newspaper reported.
Six other states still use the gas chamber, although all show lethal injection is the primary method of execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The states are Alabama, Arizona, California, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Frank Atwood, Clarence Dixon next in line for execution
The death clock, which stopped seven years ago, is ticking once more for Atwood and Dixon.
Court records show the state is scheduled to file motions for executions of Atwood in July and Dixon in August. They then will have 30 days to respond.
Atwood, 65, was sentenced in Pima County in 1987 for the murder of an 8-year-old girl, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson. According to court records, Atwood was driving in a neighborhood looking for a child in 1984.
Atwood had a prior conviction from California for kidnapping a young boy.
Atwood spotted Hoskinson, hit her bike with his car and grabbed her. He murdered her in the desert, according to court records.
Dixon, 65, was convicted in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University found dead inside her apartment with a belt around her neck.
Multiple lawyers have argued since the 1970s that Dixon has severe mental health issues.
Two days before Dixon murdered Bowdoin, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled he was "not guilty by reason of insanity" for an attack on another woman.
Sandra Day O'Connor was the judge. Dixon was released without supervision from a state hospital.
Neither Perkovich nor Baich would say if their clients have voiced an opinion on how they would like to be executed.
Source: azcentral.com, Robert Anglen, June 5, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde