The Arizona attorney general says the state is a step closer to executing death row inmates for the first time in six years. Arizona suspended capital punishment in 2014 after the controversial execution of Joseph Wood, which required 15 injections and lasted nearly two hours.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich has been urging Gov. Doug Ducey to renew the pursuit of lethal injection drugs since July 2019 when the Department of Justice announced plans to resume executions at the federal level.

Since then Brnovich says his office has located a lawful supplier of pentobarbital, which has been approved by the state for use in single-drug lethal injections.

In a letter to the governor on Tuesday, Brnovich said his office has now located a compound pharmacist who can prepare the pentobarbital for injection.

The attorney general asked to meet with the governor in November to make plans for carrying out executions. Brnovich says there are 20 people on death row in Arizona who have exhausted the appeals process.