The Arizona Supreme Court stayed the exe­cu­tion of Donald Beaty that was sched­uled for May 25 after the state Department of Corrections tried to make last-minute changes to the exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. On May 24 the U.S. Department of Justice told Arizona not to use its sup­ply of sodi­um thiopen­tal because it had been obtained ille­gal­ly from a com­pa­ny in Great Britain. Arizona’s Attorney General filed notice with the Arizona Supreme Court stat­ing that, to ​“avoid ques­tions about the legal­i­ty” of the drug, pen­to­bar­bi­tal would be used in its place. The Court issued the stay in order to give Beaty time to review the changes to the exe­cu­tion pro­ce­dure and sched­uled a hear­ing for May 25. In 2010, Arizona pur­chased sodi­um thiopen­tal, the anes­thet­ic used in lethal injec­tions, from Dream Pharma in England. The drug was used in the exe­cu­tions of Jeffrey Landrigan and Eric King, despite con­cerns about its legal­i­ty. After the Drug Enforcement Administration seized import­ed sup­plies of the drug from five oth­er states, lawyers for Mr. Beaty con­tact­ed the Department of Justice ask­ing why Arizona’s sup­ply had not also been seized. Six oth­er states have already used pen­to­bar­bi­tal in exe­cu­tions. Beaty’s lawyer, Dale Baich, said he had repeat­ed­ly inquired about the legal­i­ty of Arizona’s drug: ​“I sent three let­ters to the DOJ and made calls to the DEA that were not returned,” said Baich. ​“The ques­tion of whether Arizona legal­ly import­ed the drug has now been answered.” UPDATE: The Arizona Supreme Court lift­ed the tem­po­rary stay of exe­cu­tion, allow­ing it to go for­ward on the sched­uled day, bar­ring a reprieve from a federal court.

(A. de Vogue, ​“DOJ Tells Arizona it Illegally Obtained Death Penalty Drug,” ABC News, May 25, 2011; P. Davenport, ​“State Supreme Court grants tem­po­rary stay of exe­cu­tion for Arizona inmate Donald Beaty,” Associated Press, May 25, 2011.) See also Lethal Injection.

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