Documents: Arizona Tried to Illegally Import Execution Drug

By ASTRID GALVAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS TUCSON, Ariz. — Oct 22, 2015, 9:34 PM ET

Arizona tried to illegally import a lethal injection drug that's not approved in the U.S. but never obtained it after federal agents stopped the shipment at the Phoenix airport, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Arizona paid nearly $27,000 for sodium thiopental, an anesthetic that has been used to carry out executions but is no longer manufactured by FDA-approved companies, the documents said. When the drugs arrived via British Airways at the Phoenix International Airport, they were seized by federal officials and have not been released, according to the documents.

"The department is contesting FDA's legal authority to continue to withhold the state's execution chemicals," state Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder said Thursday. The documents obtained by the AP were released as part of a lawsuit against the department over transparency in executions. The AP is a party in the lawsuit.

Arizona and other death penalty states have been struggling to obtain legal execution drugs for several years after European companies refused to sell the drugs, including sodium thiopental, that are needed to carry out executions. States have had to change drug combinations or, in some cases, put executions on hold temporarily as they look for other options.

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