Execution method of lethal injection approved

A federal judge Wednesday removed a major obstacle to executions in Arizona, ruling that the state's lethal-injection procedure is similar to one approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Executions have been on hold in Arizona since November 2007, when the Arizona Supreme Court postponed the death of convicted murderer Jeffrey Landrigan pending the U.S. Supreme Court's analysis of how inmates were put to death in Kentucky.

The high court's ruling approved the Kentucky protocol, but left the door open for other death-row defendants to question how it was done in their states.

Federal public defenders in Phoenix quickly filed such an appeal in Maricopa County Superior Court on Landrigan's behalf. And they filed a nearly identical suit in federal court on behalf of nine Arizona death-row prisoners who have not yet exhausted their appeals.

The two cases have been simultaneously working their way through the courts with similar arguments and nuances tailored to state and federal law. But the federal case was decided first.

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake on Wednesday ruled in favor of the Arizona protocol.

The Superior Court case has yet to be decided, but its outcome likely will be influenced by the federal court decision.

Assistant federal public defender Dale Baich, who oversees both cases, said he will appeal Wake's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But Assistant Arizona Attorney General Kent Cattani said he doubted the Appeals Court would overturn the decision, given the state's similarities to the Kentucky protocol.

"The intent is to have the process be as humane as possible," he said.

The Arizona protocol has changed considerably since the state's last execution because of arguments from Baich's office.

As in most states, Arizona's execution process depends on three drugs: a barbiturate to render the inmate unconscious and deaden the pain the other drugs cause; a paralytic to stop breathing and prevent witnesses from seeing involuntary spasms; and a chemical to stop the heart.

Source