Arizona Inmate Dies 'Gasping and Snorting' Two Hours After Lethal Injection

"I've witnessed a number of executions before and I've never seen anything like this."

The execution of a convicted murderer in Arizona lasted for nearly two hours on Wednesday, as witnesses said he gasped and snorted for much of that time before eventually dying.

This drawn-out death of Joseph R. Wood III in Arizona prompted the governor to order a review and drew renewed criticism of lethal injection, the main method of execution in the United States, just months after a high-profile botched execution in Oklahoma.

"I've witnessed a number of executions before and I've never seen anything like this," Dale Baich, one of Wood's attorneys, told The Washington Post in a phone call. "Nor has an execution that I observed taken this long."