Condemned man lingers for nearly 2 hours after lethal injection

Joseph Wood's attorneys tried to halt the execution in the middle of the process by filing an emergency motion in which they alleged that their client had been dying for more than an hour.

"He has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour. He is still alive," the lawyers said in their brief, asserting that the execution violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Arizona's attorney general declared Wood, 55, dead before the court could rule on the lawyers' motion.

The incident comes after the controversial April 29 execution of inmate Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, which lasted for 40 minutes after the supposedly almost instantly lethal injection was administered, thus prolonging the suffering of the prisoner, who ended up dying from a heart attack.

The problems that arose during Lockett's execution sparked a nationwide controversy and led President Barack Obama to ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to analyze the actions and methods whereby that sentence was carried out.

Arizona state authorities insisted that Wood was in a coma during the procedure and experienced no pain.

Wood's attorney's, however, presented several appeals in recent days to try and halt the execution, but they were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dale Baich, Wood attorney, said that they will continue with their efforts to obtain information on how Arizona prepared the experimental cocktail of lethal drugs used on Wednesday.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer requested a review of the procedure arguing that the execution lasted too long.

"One thing is certain, however, inmate Wood died in a lawful manner and by eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer. This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family," the governor said in a statement.

Wood was sentenced to death for the 1989 shooting murders of Debbie Dietz, 29, and her father Gene Dietz, 55, at an automobile repair shop in Tucson.

The prisoner had been in a complicated relationship with Debbie Dietz during which he abused her repeatedly. The woman tried to put an end to the relationship and had obtained a restraining order against Wood.

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