DOC: Inmate did not suffer, Arizona halting executions for now

PHOENIX — An Arizona inmate did not suffer during a near two-hour execution Wednesday but the state will not pursue other executions until an investigation is complete, an Arizona Department of Corrections official said.

Director Charles Ryan said Joseph Rudolph Wood was “fully and completely sedated” during the process and did not experience pain. He blasted media reports stating the execution was botched.

“Media reports, some of which were made prior to any information officially being released on the day of the execution, reached a premature and erroneous conclusion that this execution was ‘botched,'” he told assembled media on Thursday. “This is pure conjecture because there is no medical of forensic evidence to date that supports that conclusion. In fact, the evidence gathered thus supports the opposite.”

Ryan received an initial report from the medical examiner, who said the IVs and catheters were placed “perfectly” in Wood’s arms.

The DOC is still waiting on a toxicology report.

While the investigation into the execution is underway, Ryan said the Arizona Attorney General’s Office would not pursue warrants for execution.

KTAR’s Martha Maurer contributed to this story.