Just brain-dead gasps, judge told

As Arizona killer’s life ebbs, state tells hearing he’s pain-free

FLORENCE, Ariz. -- As a condemned murderer gasped for more than 90 minutes in the death chamber, a judge convened an urgent hearing in which a state lawyer assured him that the inmate was comatose and not feeling any pain.

A transcript of the emergency court hearing reveals the behind-the-scenes drama as the execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood unfolded Wednesday. The hearing included a defense lawyer, an attorney for the state and the judge.

The nation's third execution in six months to go awry rekindled the debate over the death penalty and handed potential new evidence to those building a case against lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment.

Wood took nearly two hours to die, and the execution lasted so long that his lawyers had time to file an emergency appeal while it was going on.

"He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour," Wood's lawyers wrote in a legal filing demanding that the court stop it. "He is still alive."

In a call with Judge Neil Wake, the participants discussed Wood's brain activity, heart rate and whether he was feeling pain. They talked about whether it would do any good to stop the execution while it was so far along.

Jeffrey Zick, a lawyer for the state, spoke to the Arizona Department of Corrections director on the phone and was given assurances from the medical staff at the prison that Wood was not in any pain. Zick also said the governor's office was notified of the situation.

"The director indicated that in consultation with the IV team leader, who is a medical doctor, Mr. Wood is apparently comatose; that he cannot change course at his point," Zick told the judge.

Zick said at one point that a second dose of drugs was given, but he did not provide specifics.

"I am told that Mr. Wood is effectively brain dead and that this is the type of reaction that one gets if they were taken off of life support. The brain stem is working but there's no brain activity," he said, according to the transcript.

The judge then asked, "Do you have the leads connected to determine his brain state?"

Zick said he didn't think so.

"Well if there are not monitors connected with him, if it's just a visual observation, that is very concerning as not being adequate," the judge said.

Zick later informed the judge that Wood had died.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne's office said Wood, 55, was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m., one hour and 57 minutes after the execution started.

It is the third prolonged execution this year in the U.S., including one in Ohio in which an inmate gasped in similar fashion for nearly 30 minutes. An Oklahoma inmate died of a heart attack in April, minutes after prison officials halted his execution because the drugs weren't being administered properly.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday night that she was ordering a full review of the state's execution process, saying she's concerned by how long it took for the drugs to kill Wood.

Arizona uses the same drugs -- the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone -- that were used in the Ohio execution earlier this year. A different drug combination was used in the Oklahoma case.

Many states have refused to reveal details such as which pharmacies are supplying lethal-injection drugs and who is administering them out of concerns that the drugmakers could be harassed.

Wood, who was convicted in a 1989 double murder, filed several appeals that were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Wood argued he and the public has a right to know details about the state's method for lethal injections, the qualifications of the executioner and who makes the drugs.

In San Francisco on Thursday, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wood's prolonged death underscores his call to bring back firing squads. He called lethal injection a "dishonest" attempt to disguise the brutal nature of capital punishment.

Kozinski first wrote of his distaste for lethal injection Monday, saying properly trained firing squads are a "foolproof" way to quickly execute an inmate and avoid complications surrounding lethal injection.

In a dissent to a ruling Monday, which put Wood's execution on hold but later was overturned by the Supreme Court, Kozinski wrote: "Using drugs meant for individuals with medical needs to carry out executions is a misguided effort to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and beautiful -- like something any one of us might experience in our final moments.

"But executions are, in fact, brutal, savage events, and nothing the state tries to do can mask that reality. Nor should we. If we as a society want to carry out executions, we should be willing to face the fact that the state is committing a horrendous brutality on our behalf."

A Section on 07/25/2014

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