PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan says the state plans to switch to using just one execution drug, dropping a three-drug protocol used since the 1990s.
Ryan told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the state would make the switch after two executions scheduled in the next two weeks.
He says the switch is in the works because of perceived concerns about the three-drug method.
Three other states have switched to a one-drug protocol, and Ryan says Arizona's likely choice for a single drug would be the sedative they use -- pentobarbital.
In another development, Ryan and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne say a clerical error resulted in imported execution drugs being listed incorrectly on forms as being for animals.
Defense attorneys want an investigation.
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