Change of plans in method of upcoming Arizona executions
The Arizona Department of Corrections will not have all the lethal injection serums for the two death sentences scheduled over the next 10 days. Corrections officials notified the Arizona Supreme Court they will only be administering a one-drug protocol. KJZZ’s Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez reports.
NADINE ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: Arizona Corrections will use a one-drug lethal injection in the execution of 68-year-old Robert Moormann and 48-year-old Robert Towery. The corrections department notified the Arizona Supreme Court they do not have the necessary three lethal injection serum. Instead, they’ll only use a sedative. Under state guidelines, the Corrections Department is to check their serum inventory 35 days prior to an execution. The Arizona Corrections reviewed inventory today and sent their change of plan this afternoon. Dale Baich is with the Federal Public Defender’s office.
DALE BAICH: What’s important with the lethal injection protocol is transparency and reliability. Here, we have the Department of Corrections operating in secret, and they’ve demonstrated they can’t follow the written protocol. It’s not reliable.
ARROYO RODRIGUEZ: Baich says the last-minute lethal injection change will be brought up this afternoon before the 9th Circuit Court during a stay of execution request.
