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Arizona's highest court on Wednesday temporarily halted the execution of a condemned inmate Wednesday morning so it could consider a last-minute appeal before soon turning back around and allowing it to proceed.The appeal focused on arguments that Joseph Rudolph Wood, 55, received inadequate legal representation at his sentencing, along with a challenge about the secrecy of the lethal injection drugs.The Arizona Supreme Court temporarily halted Wood's execution scheduled for Wednesday morning, but then rejected the appeal and said the execution could proceed.Officials at the state prison in Florence have told witnesses to return to the execution chamber at 1 p.m. Pacific.The planned execution is occurring amid new scrutiny nationwide over lethal injections after several controversial executions.
It took so long for Wood to die after receiving an injection of midazolam combined with hydromorphone that his attorneys had time to file an emergency appeal asking officials to save his life as the drugs apparently failed to fully take hold.“At 1:57 p.m [officials] reported that Mr. Wood was sedated, but at 2:02 he began to breathe,” said the legal filing in federal court from public defender Jon M. Sands. “At 2:03 his mouth moved. Mr. Wood has continued to breathe since that time. He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour. At 3:02 p.m. [sic] At that time, staff rechecked for sedation. He is still alive.”Wood was not pronounced dead until nearly two hours after the procedure began.
A two hour dying process is NOT significant "pain and suffering," and the way it was done was NOT "cruel and unusual," either.Good for Arizona.