By Paul Davenport
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — A federal judge in Phoenix has blocked Tuesday’s scheduled execution of an Arizona death row inmate, saying more time is needed to consider the state’s use of a scarce lethal injection drug from an unidentified source.
Jeffrey Landrigan’s lawyers contend he could be suffocated painfully if the sodium thiopental doesn’t work properly.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver says that’s a legitimate concern and issued an order Monday afternoon blocking the execution. A prosecutor says the state will file an appeal.
Landrigan was sentenced to death in 1990 after being convicted of first-degree felony murder in the strangulation and stabbing death of Chester Dyer of Phoenix.