State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Arizona execution procedures face review in U.S. court

Reuters: A federal judge in Phoenix will hear arguments this week about resuming executions in Arizona, where a 2014 lethal injection that took nearly two hours raised questions about the state's death chamber protocols and the chemicals it uses to kill inmates.

The case is the latest to challenge the drugs used in many states to execute prisoners, and may wind up putting the issue back for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Arizona last year changed its lethal injection procedures following the troubled 2014 execution of Joseph Wood, but lawyers for seven Arizona death row inmates contend new guidelines and drugs will violate U.S. constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

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