FLORENCE, Ariz. — A condemned Arizona inmate gasped for more than an hour and a half during his execution Wednesday before he died in an episode sure to add to the scrutiny surrounding the death penalty.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s office said Joseph Rudolph Wood was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m., one hour and 57 minutes after the execution started.
Wood’s lawyers had filed emergency appeals with federal and state courts while the execution was underway, demanding it be stopped. The appeal said Wood was “gasping and snorting for more than an hour.”
Gov. Jan Brewer said later that she’s ordering a full review of the state’s execution process.
Wood’s case highlighted scrutiny of lethal injections after two controversial executions, including that of an Ohio inmate in January who snorted and gasped during the 26 minutes it took him to die. In Oklahoma, an inmate died of a heart attack after prison officials halted his execution because the drugs weren’t being administered properly.
