Arizona killer executed after stay lifted

FLORENCE, Ariz., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Convicted murderer Jeffrey Landrigan, on Arizona's death row for 20 years, was executed by lethal injection after a federal stay was lifted, officials said.

Landrigan's last words Tuesday were, "Well, I'd like to say thank you to my family for being here and all my friends, and Boomer Sooner," referring to the University of Oklahoma Sooners, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.

Landrigan was convicted for the 1989 murder of Chester Dean Dyer in Phoenix. His execution at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence took place after the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a temporary restraining order issued the previous day by a federal judge and affirmed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Republic said.

The legal matter concerned whether Arizona could be forced to disclose where and how it got its supply of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used in Arizona executions, the Republic said. The lone U.S. manufacturer and only apparent federally approved supplier of thiopental temporarily stopped production of the drug. Landrigan's attorneys wanted assurances that Arizona's thiopental was lawfully obtained and would be effective.

Landrigan's execution was the first in Arizona since May 2007. He was supposed to be put to death on Nov. 1, 2007, but that attempt was put on hold by a case in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of execution by lethal injection.