You know, Arizona, it’s bad enough your execution cocktail didn’t work too well and the guy you were trying to kill “repeatedly gasped for one hour and 40 minutes” before he finally died. But then you compounded it by sending a death announcement out to the media misidentifying the man who was killed.

News outlets, including TPM, received the announcement at 3:56 p.m. Arizona time, just seven minutes after Wood was pronounced dead. The first paragraph of the announcement was this:

PHOENIX, AZ (Wednesday, July 23, 2014) – After several days of legal maneuvering, Attorney General Tom Horne is announcing the execution of 55-year-old, Robert G. Jones, ADC #086279. The execution commenced at 1:52 p.m. at the Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC)-Florence. He was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m.

[snip]

A short time later, at 4:16 p.m. local time, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office sent out a corrected announcement with the name highlighted:

PHOENIX, AZ (Wednesday, July 23, 2014) – After several days of legal maneuvering, Attorney General Tom Horne is announcing the execution of 55-year-old, Joseph R.Wood III, ADC #086279. The execution commenced at 1:52 p.m. at the Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC)-Florence. He was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m.

Mr. Jones was executed by the state in October of last year.

It’s nice to know Arizona takes its death penalty responsibilities so seriously, isn’t it?