AG pushes Ducey to help acquire execution drugs
On the same day a federal inmate was executed for the first time in 17 years, the Arizona attorney general reminded Gov. Doug Ducey that this state still doesn’t have access to the drugs needed to restart executions here.
Last year, Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Ducey explaining that the state has not executed an inmate since 2014. Arizona has not been able to access one of the drugs required for the lethal injection procedure; many manufacturers have refused to sell it for execution purposes.
“One year ago, I wrote urging you to lawfully obtain pentobarbital so Arizona may resume executions by lethal injection,” Brnovich wrote on Tuesday. “I write again to renew this request and highlight developments over the past 12 months that further strengthen the case to resume executions in Arizona.”
He discussed cases over the past year involving Arizona’s death penalty practices, including one that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for Ducey, told The Republic that his office has received the letter.
“We will continue working with the Department of Corrections to ensure justice is served and that we follow the law,” Ptak said.
Getting access to execution drugs
There are 115 people on death row in Arizona. When Brnovich wrote his letter last year, 14 people had exhausted their appeals. That number has since grown to 20.
In 2017, the Arizona Department of Corrections posted execution procedures that require executions to be carried out using either of two barbiturates, pentobarbital or thiopental.
State officials in 2015 tried to ship thiopental from out of the country, but federal officials impounded the drug at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The federal government is using pentobarbital. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ protocol using the drug.
“The successful acquisition of pentobarbital demonstrates there is at least one supplier willing to sell the drug to governmental entities for lethal injection,” Brnovich wrote in Tuesday’s letter to Ducey.
Brnovich told Ducey about Frank Atwood, who was convicted of killing 8year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson.
“The rights of victims are assaulted each time an execution is delayed. Over the past year, our office has been steadfast in seeking justice for victims and their families,” Brnovich wrote. In September, Hoskinson’s mother wrote an op-ed calling on Ducey to help.
“It is now my hope that Governor Ducey will hear our plea and direct the Department of Corrections to procure the drugs to execute the perpetrator,” Debbie Carlson wrote.
She explained how long the process has been. Atwood was arrested three days after her daughter’s abduction. The trial took two months and there were years of appeals. It will be 36 years in September since Vicki’s death.
“Our Vicki was robbed of her life that afternoon. She was a vibrant child with an infectious personality,” Carlson wrote. “She was an excellent student and competitive athlete. She loved to ride her pink bike, play Barbies and cheer on her papa in his race car.”
On Wednesday, Carlson told The Republic that she applauds Brnovich for taking the lead to request the restart of executions. She said the attorney general is dedicated to bringing justice to the families.
“Our loved ones’ lives were taken by these monsters. They were sentenced to death. It should not take 33-plus years to carry out that sentence,” she said. “Our family and communities need closure. I implore Governor Ducey to order the Arizona Department of Corrections to procure the drugs necessary to complete these executions.”
Lawsuit sets protocols
The last inmate to be executed in Arizona was Joseph R. Wood in 2014. A controversial cocktail left him snorting and gasping for nearly two hours before he died.
A lawsuit was filed by lawyers representing inmates on death row and the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona against the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
The lawsuit led to a series of settlements establishing what drugs the Department of Corrections could not use, what witnesses should be allowed to see, and how the protocol must be followed.
The lawsuit also led to an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The 9th Circuit ruled inmates do not have the right to know the drug suppliers’ identities or the qualifications of the staff involved in the executions.
“The disclosure of suppliers’ identities makes it more difficult to obtain drugs as it has given rise to harassment or retaliation by death penalty opponents,” Brnovich wrote to the governor. “The Ninth Circuit’s opinion now alleviates any such concern.”
As part of the same ruling, the court also determined that the public has the right to hear sounds of the execution.
High court denies resentencing
In February, the U.S. Supreme Court denied James McKinney the right to have a resentencing.
McKinney and his half-brother, Charles Michael Hedlund, were sentenced to death by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge for the murders of Chandler residents Christene Mertens, 41, and Jim McClain, 65, during a 1991 burglary spree.
McKinney’s lawyer argued that he deserved to be sentenced by a judge and that his client’s history of abuse as a child wasn’t considered.
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in an Arizona case that juries must make the findings that determine life or death sentences.
But the majority Supreme Court opinion determined that the ruling didn’t retroactively apply to cases.
“According to McKinney, appellate courts may no longer reweigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances in determining whether to uphold a death sentence. McKinney is incorrect,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in the dissent that a jury should have decided and “therefore hold McKinney’s death sentences unconstitutional.”