Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has ordered a “full review” from the Department of Corrections after the Thursday execution of convicted double murderer Joseph Randolph Wood took nearly two hours.
“I am concerned by the length of time it took for the administered drug protocol to complete the lawful execution of the convicted double murderer, Joseph Wood,” Ms. Brewer said in a statement. “While justice was carried out today, I directed the Department of Corrections to conduct a full review of the process.”
The AP reported that Wood, convicted of killing his girlfriend and her father in 1989, gasped more than 600 times over the course of an hour and a half after the process began and that the Arizona attorney general’s office pronounced him dead nearly two hours after the execution started.
“One thing is certain, however, inmate Wood died in a lawful manner and by eyewitness and medical accounts, he did not suffer,” Ms. Brewer continued. “This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims — and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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