USA - Arizona. A review found no explanation of what went wrong in Joseph Wood's execution.

Five months after Arizona death-row inmate Joseph Wood gasped and snored for nearly two hours on an execution gurney before dying, a review of the incident by current and former Corrections officials found no explanation of what went wrong. The Arizona Department of Corrections issued a press release saying the execution by lethal injection "was not botched," and agency Director Charles Ryan said, "The report is clear that the execution of inmate Wood was handled in accordance with all department procedures, which, as the report states, either meet or exceed national standards. It was done appropriately and with the utmost professionalism." In the weeks before his execution on July 23, Wood's attorneys petitioned the court to compel more information about the drug midazolam, which had been used in at least two other flawed executions in prior months. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution that would have forced the state to provide that information. Then witnesses watched as Wood's execution took 10 times longer than usual. Executioners injected Wood with 15 ostensibly lethal doses of a cocktail of midazolam and hydromorphone, before he finally died. Execution by lethal injection usually takes about 10 minutes. Ryan ordered an independent review. Many of the interviews were to be conducted by the Corrections Department inspector general's office, then reviewed by a consulting firm made up of former directors of state corrections departments. A company called CGL and "its partner, Correctional Solutions" carried out the review, according to the corrections report. "The Arizona execution protocol explicitly stated that a prisoner would be executed using 50 milligrams of hydromorphone and 50 milligrams of midazolam," said Dale Baich, one of Wood's attorneys. "The report released today does not answer the question of why the experimental drug protocol did not work as promised." The 50-page report mostly describes the Arizona protocol and compares it with those of other states identified only as States B through F, then concludes that the Arizona procedures "equaled or surpassed the provisions contained in the protocol standards reviewed from the other jurisdictions," and that "the training regime that was documented for all team members could serve as national standards for other systems." The report also details the prescribed procedures and the logs showing how the Wood execution was carried out. But when it comes to explaining what went wrong, the report refers to the doctor who was the execution-team leader, who "felt" that Wood's heavy breathing was "reflexive" and not an indication of suffering. The doctor did not know why the dosage did not work. The report also quotes Pima County Medical Examiner Gregory Hess as saying that gasps and snorts are "normal bodily responses to dying," that he also did not know why the dosage did not work as expected, and that there was nothing unusual about Wood's autopsy. A correctional-health expert who was not identified by name also said he could not explain why the execution took so long. Also on Monday, Ryan, the Corrections director, wrote a letter to Gov. Jan Brewer saying that despite how long the execution took, "inmate Wood remained heavily sedated throughout the process. ... The review also concluded that Arizona's execution protocol is detailed and comprehensive in scope in regard to all aspects of the process." Wood's attorneys have already filed suit in federal court over the execution and the corrections department's reluctance to disclose information. That suit was stayed in November pending the release of today's report. A separate lawsuit filed by The Arizona Republic and a coalition of other media outlets demands more transparency in how executions are carried out.