Experts say Arizona executioners took too long to insert IV

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - The lethal-injection death of Clarence Dixon at the state prison in Florence on Wednesday appeared to follow the state’s execution protocol.

After the drug was injected, Dixon’s mouth stayed open and his body did not move and was declared dead about 10 minutes later.

This was ultimately carried out more smoothly than the state’s last use of the death penalty in 2014, when a condemned prisoner who was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination gasped for air hundreds of times over nearly two hours.

But still, death penalty experts that said the estimated 25 minutes it took medical staff to insert an IV into Dixon’s body was too long.

The workers first tried and failed to insert an IV into his left arm before they were able to connect it in his right arm. They then opted to access a vein in his groin area for another IV line.