Thursday, December 2, 2010

Arizona delays execution due to drug importation questions

Court stays execution over drug origin from UPI.com

The Arizona Supreme Court says it has delayed an execution until the state answers questions about how it obtained a lethal injection drug made overseas.

Sodium thiopental is used in Arizona and other states as a sedative in combination with two other drugs in lethal injection executions. But because it is not made in the United States anymore and there is no legal mechanism for it to be imported from its British manufacturer, lawyers for condemned prisoner Daniel Wayne Cook contend acquiring sodium thiopental from abroad may be illegal, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.