Arizona says it will not carry out new executions pending an investigation into the botched lethal injection of a death row prisoner. Joseph Wood died Wednesday after a two-hour ordeal that saw him gasping for air, choking and snorting. He had been injected with a relatively untested two-drug combination. At a hearing on Thursday, state officials claimed Wood was never in pain. Wood’s attorneys have asked for an independent probe of what they call “the most prolonged bungled execution in recent history.”
Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center said the U.S. prison system is experimenting with its death row prisoners.

Richard Dieter: “They’re experimenting with new drugs. Every state is varying the dosage, the mix. (The) first four executions this year were by four different drugs.”