Английская Википедия:Capital punishment in Arizona
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use American English Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arizona. After the execution of Joseph Wood in 2014, executions were temporarily suspended but resumed in 2022.[1][2] On January 23, 2023, newly inaugurated governor Katie Hobbs ordered a review of death penalty protocols and in light of that, newly inaugurated attorney general Kris Mayes issued a hold on any executions in the state.[3]
Legal process
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. If the second jury is also deadlocked, a life sentence is issued.[4]
The Governor of Arizona can grant clemency only with advice and consent of the five-member Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.[5]
Capital crimes
Certain aggravating circumstances constitute capital murder in the State of Arizona:[6]
- prior conviction for which a sentence of life imprisonment or death was imposable;
- prior serious offense involving the use of threat or violence;
- grave risk of death to others;
- procurement of murder by payment or promise of payment;
- commission of murder for pecuniary gain;
- murder committed in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner;
- murder committed while in custody;
- multiple homicides;
- murder of a victim under 15 years of age or of a victim 70 years of age or older; and
- murder of a law enforcement officer.
Executions and death row
Arizona's death row for males is located at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence in Florence. Female death row prisoners are housed at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Perryville in Goodyear.
Since capital punishment was resumed in 1976, 40 people in Arizona were convicted of murder and have been executed at Florence State Prison in Florence, Arizona.[7]
Since 1992, Arizona has employed lethal injection for its executions.[8] It previously executed prisoners with inhalation of cyanide gas, but passed a statue changing to lethal injection after the controversial and much-publicized execution of Donald Eugene Harding, who took 10 and 1/2 minutes to die.[9] However, inmates convicted for capital crimes committed prior to November 23, 1992 may choose gas inhalation instead.[10][11]
In 2011, the state was found to be lawfully buying execution drugs from Dream Pharma, a pharmaceutical company operating out of a driving school in west London, UK.[12]
The 2014 execution of Joseph Wood was similarly controversial, taking nearly two hours and leading to a moratorium of executions until July 2019, when Attorney General Mark Brnovich urged the governor to "act without delay" in helping the state obtain execution drugs.[11] In October of that year, Arizona's department of corrections paid $1.5m to a confidential source for 1,000 1g vials of pentobarbital sodium salt, a sedative used in the state's executions. U.S. doctors are not permitted to prescribe the drug for executions, as taking a life does not serve a therapeutic purpose, so Arizona has to find suppliers willing to sell drugs without prescription.[13]
Arizona would next execute Clarence Wayne Dixon, on May 11, 2022.[14]
See also
- List of people executed in Arizona
- List of death row inmates in Arizona
- Crime in Arizona
- Law of Arizona
References
External links
