An independent report released Monday into the execution of Arizona inmate Joseph Wood revealed the state 's Department of Corrections followed protocol . `` This independent review concluded that at all times following the administration of the execution protocol , the inmate was fully sedated , was totally unresponsive to stimuli , and as a result did not suffer , '' said Corrections Director Charles Ryan . `` In fact , the Pima County medical examiner is cited as reporting that the breathing pattern exhibited by the inmate prior to his death is a normal bodily response to dying , even in someone highly sedated , '' Ryan said . The report timeline for the July 23 execution confirmed previous accounts that it took two hours for Woods to die after the first drug protocol was administered at 1:40 p.m. And after the first lethal injection failed to kill Wood , executioners gave him 14 additional doses of a two-drug cocktail . During those two hours , witnesses including Wood 's attorney claimed to have seen Wood snorting and struggling to breathe . Troy Hayden , a media witness from KSAZ , likened Wood 's breathing to a `` fish gulping for air . '' The report timeline did not remark on Wood 's breathing . After the staff administered a dose , they confirmed that Wood remained sedated . `` The medical examiner in this case offered no apparent explanation for the time lapse that occurred in the Wood execution , '' read the report . `` The IV team leader , medical examiner and an independent correctional health expert agreed that the dosage administered was sufficient to cause death in a relatively short period of time . All agreed that the dosage of midazolam would result in heavy sedation . '' The two-drug cocktail itself -- a mix of midazolam and hydromorphone -- came into question . Wood 's attorney , Dale Baich , argued the report did not `` answer the question of why the experimental drug protocol did not work as promised . '' In an open letter , Ryan told Arizona Gov . Jan Brewer he intends to stop using the midazolam and hydromorphone cocktail and instead use a one-drug injection or a three-drug cocktail . `` Based on this report , I forwarded my assessment to Governor Jan Brewer that the state continue efforts to procure drugs for the one-drug protocol , and begin the process to adopt three-drug protocols , as opposed to utilizing a modified two-drug protocol , '' Ryan said . Baich said he warned the Department of Corrections of the two-drug combination long before the execution . `` The pre-identified problems came true , '' Baich said . `` The decision to now remove this formula is an acknowledgment by the Arizona Department of Corrections that it was wrong in choosing this combination of chemicals . '' The independent review came at Brewer 's request . She directed the Department of Corrections to review the process citing concerns over the amount of time it took for Wood to die . A federal judge ordered local officials to preserve all physical evidence in Wood 's execution . Wood was convicted of murder and assault in the 1989 deaths of his estranged girlfriend and her father . `` You do n't know what excruciating is . What 's excruciating is seeing your dad laying there in a pool of blood , seeing you sister laying there in a pool of blood . This man deserved it . And I should n't really call him a man , '' said Jeanne Brown , a relative of Wood 's victims . Wood was the latest American death row inmate to argue that an anesthetic recently introduced in some states ' execution protocols could fail to sufficiently knock out the inmate ahead of the lethal drugs , subjecting the person to an agonizing death . Wood claimed among other things that the state was going to use an `` experimental '' drug protocol . In documents filed with the state Supreme Court , Wood contended the use of the anesthetic midazolam was problematic in recent U.S. executions and that it would violate the Constitution 's guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment . Some states turned to midazolam this decade after they could no longer get sodium thiopental , a drug that was regularly used for executions . A U.S. manufacturer stopped producing sodium thiopental in 2009 , and countries that still produce it wo n't allow its export to the United States for use in lethal injections . Earlier this year , Oklahoma put executions on hold after the controversial execution of Clayton Lockett . Midazolam was part of the injection combination , and it took 43 minutes for him to die , Oklahoma officials said . The Arizona report remarked on the differences with the Oklahoma case . `` Staff performance in no way contributed to the extended time lapse from initiation of the drug protocol to pronouncement of death . As noted , the execution was not 'botched '' in comparison to what occurred in Oklahoma with Clayton Lockett , '' said the report . But Baich remains unconvinced . `` The state should release all of the documentation and witness reports that went into this review . Only through discovery in a court of law will there be a truly independent and comprehensive examination of what went wrong during Mr. Wood 's nearly two-hour execution , '' he said . Mississippi mom swaps death row for jail cell to await trial . Death penalty facts that may surprise you . California 's death penalty ruled unconstitutional .
An independent report on a two - day execution found no wrongdoing . Joseph Wood execution was initially reported to be ` ` botched '' A prosecution witness likens Wood 's breathing to a ` ` fish gulping for air '' Wood had argued the combination for lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment .