Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Arizona execution takes two hours


Florence prison, Arizona
The execution was carried out in Florence

US death row inmate Joseph Wood has died after an execution in Arizona took nearly two hours to kill him. Wood, a double murderer, was executed by lethal injection.
His lawyers filed an appeal for an emergency stay of execution, after he had been "gasping and snorting for more than an hour" in the death chamber. They argued the extended execution process violated Wood's right to be executed in the absence of cruel and unusual punishment.



Joseph Wood
Wood was convicted of the 1989 murders of his girlfriend and her father
 

The execution should have taken 10 minutes, his lawyers said, but Wood, 55, gasped more than 600 times before he died.  It began at 13:52, and Wood was pronounced dead at 15:49, one hour and 57 minutes later, according to the Arizona attorney-general's office.  He was convicted of the 1989 murders of his estranged girlfriend Debra Dietz and her father Eugene Dietz.
Family members of the vicims were unconcerned by the way the execution was carried out.
"This man conducted a horrific murder and you guys are going, let's worry about the drugs,'' said Richard Brown.
"Why didn't they give him a bullet?"
Wood's lawyers had sought to force Arizona to name the manufacturers of the drugs used in the execution, but a last-ditch ruling by the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to go ahead. In communications with Wood's lawyers this year, Arizona officials said they would use a two-drug combination of midazolam and hydromorphone to put him to death. But they declined to provide further identifying information, including the name of the drug's manufacturer, citing a state confidentiality law aimed at protecting the drug makers from reprisal.


 It is incredibly inhumane to torture people to death in this manner.  Especially, in view of the fact that Charlie Manson and prolific serial killers are living  pretty comfortably, serving out life sentences.

2 comments:

  1. PIC ...
    Manson and his goonies are in California , that's one reason they got life .
    If the Manson bunch was in Texas , they would have gotten the electric chair ... not lethal drugs .

    You see Texas don't have a waiting line . My thoughts is why they let his lawyer draw the appeals out for 25 years . The state has to pay Wood's lawyers , so it's a win , win for them .

    I remember the murder so well and it was horrible and the father / daughter did a slow death .... so maybe it's 'KARMA' for woods .

    Good post
    Luv PIC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi PIC
    I know they put capital punishment on hold in California temporarily but it is still practiced in 32 other states and will probably be reinstated in California in the near future. With so many states still enforcing the death penalty, I think there should be standards which must be met federally. I feel it should be as humane as is possible, even for the worst offenders. Just my view point.
    But I sure do understand what you meant about Karma.
    I hope you will tell me more about the Woods case. I am not familiar with it.
    See you soon,
    Luv PIC

    ReplyDelete

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