US District Judge Neil Wake heard arguments regarding the effort of Arizona to dismiss lawsuit filed against them. The lawsuit details the way on how the state caries death penalty and whether it should be continued.
According to Daily Progress, the executions in Arizona are now on hold since a lawsuit filed against their way of executing criminals is still unresolved. The lawyers of state of Arizona are extending their efforts for Judge Neil Wake to hear their appeal in dismissing the lawsuit which would lead to clearing the way in continuing the use of death penalty for the state. However, regardless of the dismissal, another problem faced by the state is the fast-approaching expiration date for the key lethal-injection drug and therefore, giving Arizona little time frame to carry out the executions.
Further, The Washington Post wrote that lawyers told Wake of the Arizona's supply of the sedative midazolam which will expire on May 31 and that there are no more means in getting more. Also, the Arizona Department of Corrections and Attorney General's Office had no immediate comment on whether there are likely supply been found. Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed by seven death-row inmates argue that there should be more transparency on the side of state's execution process. They're also focused on the use of paralytic drug that's part of the state's three-drug-lethal-injection protocol. Due to this, the lawyers of the lawsuit are claiming that there is no valid argument on the state's use of the paralytic and extending to say that it violates the First Amendment rights.
ABC News reported that the attorney of the Arizona said that the Supreme Court upheld the use of these drugs in lethal injections. They added that death penalty critics are manipulating the judicial system and pharmaceutical market due to their opposition.
It should be noted that executions in Arizona were put on hold following the July 2014 death of Joseph Rudolph Wood who was given 15 dozes of midazolam and a painkiller. He suffered 2 hours before dying and his attorney said that the execution was botched.
