Guessing it wasn’t as lethal as they thought it was, huh? According to documents released on Friday (August 1st) Arizona executioners injected inmate, Joseph Rudolph Wood, with a lethal combination of drugs 15 times during a two hour period of time before he finally died. Find out the whole story after the jump!
“The Arizona execution protocol explicitly states that a prisoner will be executed using 50 milligrams of hydromorphone and 50 milligrams of midazolam,” said Wood’s attorney, Dale Baich, in a written statement. “The execution logs released today by the Arizona Department of Corrections shows that the experimental drug protocol did not work as promised. Instead of the one dose as required under the protocol, ADC injected 15 separate doses of the drug combination, resulting in the most prolonged execution in recent memory.”
Wood was convicted in 1989 of the double murder of his then girlfriend, Debbie Dietz, and her father, Gene Dietz.
Wood’s execution, which took place on July 23rd, sparked the ongoing debate over the death penalty. Baich says what took place was a “horribly botched execution” that instead of taking the predicted 10 minutes, dragged on for two long hours.
The inmate’s attorneys attempted to stop the execution after it became apparent that the injections weren’t working but their efforts proved to be unsuccessful.
A review of the state’s execution process was ordered by Gov. Jan Brewer due to concern for the length of time it took for the drug protocol to effectively kill Wood. The Arizona Department of Correction is seeking an outside investigator for the independent inquiry.
