Opinion ID: 763300
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Arizona

Text: 14 The Arizona experience somewhat parallels that of California. The use of lethal gas was the only authorized method of execution from the 1930s until 1992. The first case challenging the use of lethal gas in Arizona was the 1934 case of Hernandez v. State, 43 Ariz. 424, 32 P.2d 18 (1934). The Arizona Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the use of lethal gas in that case, as it did again in 1987 in State v. Williams, 166 Ariz. 132, 800 P.2d 1240 (1987). In the latter case, it noted that Williams' claim had been uniformly rejected on the federal level. Id., 800 P.2d at 1250. 15 The Arizona legislature amended the statute in 1992 to make lethal injection the designated method of execution, with those inmates who were sentenced to death prior to the amendment having the option of choosing lethal gas as the method of execution to be used in his or her case. Ariz.Rev.Stat. § 13-704(B).