execution of Joseph Wood
{{Short description|Botched execution in Arizona (2014)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Joseph Wood
| image = Joseph Wood from Arizona.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Mugshot of Wood
| birth_name = Joseph Rudolph Wood III
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1958|12|6|mf=yes}}{{cite news|title=Joseph R. Wood III|url=http://archive.azcentral.com/specials/special32/articles/0903Wood-ON.html|access-date=July 24, 2014|work=The Arizona Republic|date=September 4, 2003}}
| birth_place = Belton, Texas, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|7|23|1958|12|6|mf=yes}}
| death_place = Florence State Prison, Florence, Arizona, U.S.
| death_cause = Botched execution by lethal injection
| occupation =
| penalty = Death by lethal injection plus 15 years in prison (July 2, 1991)
| conviction = First degree murder (2 counts)
Aggravated assault (2 counts)
| victims = Debra Dietz, 29
Eugene Dietz, 55
}}
Joseph Rudolph Wood III was an American convicted murderer executed on July 23, 2014, at Florence State Prison in Arizona, with a two-hour lethal injection procedure that was described as "botched".{{cite web|last1=Hannon|first1=Elliot|title=Arizona Man Gasps and Snorts During Lethal Injection Execution That Took Nearly Two Hours|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/07/23/botched_lethal_injection_of_joseph_wood_takes_two_hours.html|work=Slate|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}} Wood gasped and snorted for an hour and fifty-seven minutes after the drugs were injected, and the entire procedure took almost two hours; experts said the execution should have taken about ten minutes.
Background
Wood had been convicted of murder and assault after shooting dead his estranged girlfriend 29-year-old Debra Dietz and her father, 55-year-old Eugene Dietz, on August 7, 1989.{{cite news|last1=Kiefer|first1=Michael|title=Supreme Court lifts stay of Arizona execution|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2014/07/22/arizona-execution-joe-wood-execution/13022101/|access-date=July 24, 2014|work=The Arizona Republic|date=July 22, 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Chappell|first1=Bill|title=Arizona Execution Of Inmate Takes Nearly Two Hours|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/23/334632862/arizona-execution-of-inmate-takes-nearly-two-hours|publisher=NPR|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}} Wood was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault against a police officer. He was sentenced to death for each murder and received 15-year prison sentences, set to run concurrently, for the aggravated assault convictions.{{cite web|url=http://www.leagle.com/decision/1994233180Ariz53_1222.xml/STATE%20v.%20WOOD |title=STATE v. WOOD | 180 Ariz. 53 (1994) | 0ariz531222 |publisher=Leagle.com |date=1994-10-11 |accessdate=2022-08-12}}
Wood was scheduled to be executed with a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone, which had been used only once previously for the January 2014 execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio.{{cite news|last1=Berman|first1=Mark|title=Arizona execution lasts nearly two hours, witness says Joseph Wood was 'gasping and struggling to breathe'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/07/23/arizona-supreme-court-stays-planned-execution/|access-date=July 24, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 23, 2014}} McGuire's execution had also been described as "botched" due to McGuire appearing to snort, gasp, and convulse during a procedure that lasted 25 minutes.{{cite web|last1=Serwer|first1=Adam|title=Another botched execution, this time in Arizona|url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/another-botched-execution-arizona|publisher=MSNBC|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Ford|first1=Dana|last2=Fantz|first2=Ashley|title=Controversial execution in Ohio uses new drug combination|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/justice/ohio-dennis-mcguire-execution/|publisher=CNN|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=January 17, 2014}} From 1890 to 2010, the rate of botched{{efn|Professor Austin Sarat of Amherst College defines a "botched" execution as one where "the executioners departed from official legal protocol or standard operating procedure".}} lethal injections in the United States was 7.1%, higher than any other form of execution, with firing squads at 0%, the electric chair at 1.9%, hanging at 3.1%, and the gas chamber at 5.4%.{{cite web|last1=Siegelbaum|first1=Debbie|title=America's 'inexorably' botched executions|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28555978|publisher=BBC News|access-date=1 August 2014|date=2014-07-31}}
Execution
The execution began at 1:52 p.m. MST and ended at 3:49 p.m. when Wood was pronounced dead. It involved injecting Wood with the drug cocktail of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a semi-synthetic opioid,{{cite web|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2014/07/23/arizona-execution-botched/13070677/|title=Execution of Arizona murderer takes nearly 2 hours|last=Ortega|first=Bob|date=2014-07-14|website=The Republic|access-date=2016-10-05}} each at a dose such that a single application of both drugs was supposed to be sufficient to kill him. Wood had to be dosed 15 times,{{cite web |url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lethal-drugs-injected-15-times-botched-arizona-execution |title=Lethal drugs injected 15 times in botched Arizona execution |publisher=MSNBC |date=2 August 2014 |access-date=2 August 2014 |author=Serwer, Adam}} during which he gasped and snorted for well over one hour,{{cite web|last1=Connor|first1=Tracy|title=Arizona Execution of Joseph Wood Took Nearly Two Hours|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/arizona-execution-joseph-wood-took-nearly-two-hours-n163086|publisher=NBC|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}} a media witness comparing Wood's breathing to a "fish gulping for air".{{cite news|last1=Ford|first1=Dana |last2=Watts|first2=Amanda|last3=Hanna|first3=Jason|title=Inmate gasped, snorted during two-hour execution|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/justice/arizona-execution-controversy/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}} One Associated Press reporter said Wood gasped more than 600 times. Experts stated that the execution should have taken about ten minutes.
Witnesses speaking to ABC news stated "It seemed to go as normal. They put in the catheters. They announced that they would-- were administering the drug. And he closed his eyes and went to sleep." "And about 11 minutes in, I noticed his lip quiver. And a minute later, he gasped. A few seconds later, he did it again and then again and again and again." "It was loud. It wasn't just, you know, some nice, peaceful sleeping sound." "Everybody was thinking something went wrong. You could see the looks on the faces of the people from the Department of Corrections, who were standing along the side. You know, they were looking at each other nervously."{{Cite web |last=Whitaker |first=Bill |date=2016-07-10 |title=The Execution of Joseph Wood - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/execution-of-joseph-wood-60-minutes-2/ |access-date=2024-09-28 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}
Wood's lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court an hour into the procedure, requesting that the prolonged execution be halted. In the motion, they wrote: "He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour. ... He is still alive." The appeal was denied by Justice Anthony Kennedy, with word coming half an hour after Wood's death.
After the execution, Debra Dietz's sister told the Associated Press: "What I saw today with him being executed, it is nothing compared to what happened on August 7, 1989," Jeanne Brown said, referring to Wood's murder of her father and sister on that date. "What's excruciating is seeing your father lying there in a pool of blood, seeing your sister lying in a pool of blood."{{Cite news |last=Dart |first=Tom |date=July 24, 2014 |title='Judge, I just learned that the IV team leader has confirmed Mr Wood's death' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/arizona-inmate-fate-court-emergency-motion-botched-exeuction |access-date=May 11, 2022}}
According to a medical examiner and an independent report, Mr. Wood was sedated the entire time, was unresponsive to stimuli, and felt no pain whatsoever.
Aftermath
Governor Jan Brewer ordered a review of the state's execution procedures, citing concern with the length of time it took Wood to die.{{cite news|title=Arizona Inmate Dies 2 Hours After Execution Begins|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/23/us/ap-us-arizona-execution-drugs.html|access-date=July 24, 2014|agency=The Associated Press|date=July 23, 2014}} Regarding the execution, Brewer said: "One thing is certain, however, inmate Wood died in a lawful manner and by eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer. This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims{{Snd}}and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family."{{cite web|title=Arizona execution takes two hours|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28457460|publisher=BBC News|access-date=July 24, 2014|date=July 23, 2014}}
Charles Ryan, director of Arizona's department of corrections, said in a statement: "Once the inmate was sedated, other than sonorous respiration, or snoring, he did not grimace or make any further movement. Throughout this execution, I conferred and collaborated with our IV team members and was assured unequivocally that the inmate was comatose and never in pain or distress."
Stephanie Grisham, then a spokeswoman for the Arizona attorney general's office, who was also a witness, said: "There was no gasping of air. There was snoring. He just [lay] there. It was quite peaceful."{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nn-arizona-execution-20140723-story.html|title=Arizona killer takes 2 hours to die, fueling lethal-injection debate – Los Angeles Times|first=Matt Pearce, Cindy Carcamo, Maya|last=Srikrishnan|date=July 24, 2014|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=17 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a29508/another-execution-horror-story/|title=It's Time to End Our State-Sponsored Barbarism|author=|date=24 July 2014|website=esquire.com|access-date=17 October 2018}}
Dale Baich, Wood's public defender, decried the execution as a violation of the Constitution's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment", and said it could have been prevented.
On July 24, 2014, Arizona temporarily halted executions following the Wood case, pending a review of its procedures.{{cite web|title=Arizona halts executions after Joseph Wood case|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28444667|publisher=BBC News|access-date=July 25, 2014|date=July 24, 2014}}
Executions did not resume in Arizona for eight years until May 11, 2022, when Clarence Dixon was executed for raping and murdering a 21-year-old woman.{{cite news|last1=Davenport|first1=Paul|last2=Billeaud|first2=Jacques|date=May 11, 2022|title=Clarence Dixon dies in Arizona's 1st execution since 2014|work=Associated Press|url=https://apnews.com/article/arizona-united-states-executions-phoenix-state-university-978013320623b716eba4ab15ddbb7b2a|access-date=May 11, 2022}}
See also
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
{{s-start}}
! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in Arizona
{{s-bef|before=Robert Glen Jones Jr.|before2=
{{s-ttl|title=Joseph Rudolph Wood III|years=July 23, 2014}}
{{s-aft|after=Clarence Dixon|after2=
|-
! colspan="3" | Executions carried out in the United States
{{s-bef|before=John Middleton – Missouri|before2=
{{s-ttl|title=Joseph Rudolph Wood III – Arizona|years=July 23, 2014}}
{{s-aft|after=Michael Worthington – Missouri|after2=
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Joseph}}
Category:20th-century American criminals
Category:21st-century executions by Arizona
Category:21st-century executions of American people
Category:People executed by Arizona by lethal injection
Category:American people convicted of assault
Category:American people executed for murder
Category:People convicted of murder by Arizona
Category:2014 controversies in the United States
Category:Deaths by person in Arizona