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Updated: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 - 12:20pm
After the state revised the use-by date of its lethal injection drugs, the Arizona Supreme Court postponed the first potential executions in Arizona in seven years.
On Monday the Supreme Court denied the state attorney general’s request to shorten the execution warrant briefing schedules for Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood and vacated their briefing schedules.
The ruling comes after the Department of Corrections backtracked on the shelf life of its compounded pentobarbital. At first, a pharmacist working for the state estimated 90 days, then revised the use-by date to 45 days. The state is still awaiting additional testing on the drugs.
Prisoner objects to proposed change in execution briefings
JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press
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FILE -This undated file photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections, shows Clarence Dixon, who was sentenced to death in the 1977 killing of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old Arizona State University senior, in Maricopa County. On Tuesday, July 6, 2021, Dixon s lawyer objected to a request to modify the briefing schedule in the state of Arizona s bid to get an execution warrant against her client. (Arizona Department of Corrections via AP, File)AP
PHOENIX (AP) A death row prisoner who could be among the first in Arizona to be executed in almost seven years is opposing a move that would reduce the amount of time he would have respond to the state’s request for his execution warrant.
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Attorneys for death row inmate Clarence Dixon have filed an objection to Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request to expedite the execution schedules for Dixon and another convicted murderer, Frank Atwood, after the state acknowledged the lethal injection drug would
expire sooner than previously announced.
Instead of the 90-day shelf-life previously claimed by the state, the lethal injection drug only maintains its potency for up to 45 days after it is compounded. That happens shortly after an official warrant for execution is issued.
The shortened shelf-life of the drug limits the time available for the state to file an execution warrant, test the drug and carry out the death sentence. As a result, the Attorney General’s Office proposed that the court expedite the hearing schedules for the two inmates to complete the executions as scheduled.
Arizona wants to speed up executions because its drugs are going out of date independent.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independent.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.