As recently as last weekend, attorneys for Clarence Dixon filed another appeal to halt his scheduled execution, claiming the drugs that will be used are actually expired. Others have raised questions about not knowing where exactly the drugs are coming from.
ABC15 took those questions to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
Here is part of the Attorney General's conversation with ABC15's Nick Ciletti:
Nick Ciletti: Are you able to share where the drug comes from?
AG Mark Brnovich: No, and frankly, I don't even know where the drug comes from and I don't want to know where the drug comes from... that is something that I do not need to know to do my job. I just know that the DOC has gone through the legal process and the drugs have been tested and they are designed to execute an individual that has been sentenced to death by a jury and a judge so the drugs are ready to carry out the ultimate punishment.
Nick: We don't know if they're coming from Europe? We don't know if they're coming from the US?
AG Brnovich: I can't say anymore because all I know is that these are drugs that...a licensed pharmacist has been involved in the process of compounding or making the necessary drugs and they are tested and that is one of the reasons why there was a lawsuit there was some debate or discussion whether the drugs had reached an expiration date or not.
Nick: Are you able to confirm whether or not the drugs are expired?
AG Brnovich: I can assure you and everyone else that the drugs being used are not expired.
In response, Dale Baich, a former federal public defender is calling on the DOC to release more information about where the drugs are coming from.
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"We want to trust our government officials to do the right thing, but they also have to be transparent and accountable. And that's all we are asking for here is that the DOC be transparent and be accountable," he said.
Baich went on to explain the cost that goes along with securing the drugs.
"When the state spends $1.2 million to buy the active pharmaceutical ingredient to make the drug and then spends $400,000 to a compounding pharmacy to make the drug into an injectable form, that's a huge outweigh of taxpayer money. The DOC needs to be accountable to the citizens. Do we take them at their word that they've gotten the drug from a legitimate source?"
