The state Corrections Department maintains that the death row inmate experienced no pain due to sedation.
Last week, Joseph Wood was put to death in Arizona. What should of been a routine execution for the Grand Canyon State went horribly wrong. Woods eventually died, but only after two hours of gulping and gasping for air.
State documents released Friday revealed that Wood was given 15 doses of a lethal drug cocktail before finally dying, NBC News reports.
Charles Ryan, the state Correction Department’s director, revealed that a total 750 mg each of Midazolam and Hydromorphone were given to the prisoner during his execution.
NBC Notes that the lethal cocktail is supposed to be 50 mg of midazolam and 50 mg of hydromorphone. This implies that Wood was given 15 times the normal dosage of the cocktail during Friday’s execution.
Despite Wood’s ordeal, the Corrections Department maintains that the death row inmate experienced no pain due to sedation.
“The records provided today show that Director Ryan, continually conferred with the IV team, and directed additional Midazolam and Hydromorphone to be administered ensuring the inmate remained deeply sedated throughout the process, and did not endure pain,” the Corrections Department said in a statement obtained by USA Today.
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