Arizona executed convicted murderer Jeffrey Landrigan on Oct. 26 after an 11th-hour dispute over the legality of using sodium thiopental obtained abroad from a source later identified as a British company. An Arizona federal judge and a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had backed a stay of execution in Landrigan's case, but the U.S. Supreme Court quashed the obstacle, saying "there is no evidence in the record to suggest that the drug obtained from a foreign source is unsafe."
The Arizona case has stirred consternation among European human rights advocates, as all nations on the continent have abolished the death penalty. Some, like Britain, have prohibited the export of instruments and materials used in executions.
