Contents of the new drug cocktail must be divulged to prisoners sentenced to die. (CACorrections, Wikimedia Commons)

Joseph Wood is scheduled to die July 23 for the killing of his estranged girlfriend, Debra Dietz and her father, Eugene Dietz in Tucson in 1989. 

His attorneys at the Federal Defender’s Office filed suit, claiming that Wood had a First Amendment right to know the source of the drugs that will be used to kill him, as well as the qualifications of the executioners that will administer them. 

Because Arizona cannot obtain more of the drug it normally uses for executions, it has turned to a new drug combination, one which has apparently resulted in botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma. The state contended that specifics regarding the drug and executioners are all protected by a shield law that keeps executioners anonymous.

In a three-judge panel, two sided with Wood. 

“We, and the public, cannot meaningfully evaluate execution protocol cloaked in secrecy,” the majority opinion read. “It is in the public’s interest that Wood’s injunction be granted.” 

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