Joseph Rudolph Wood II, a murderer convicted of two killings, died two hours after being injected with a cocktail of lethal drugs.

The execution of Wood, a convicted murderer in Arizona, took nearly two hours, confirming worries raised by his attorneys regarding a debatable drug used by the state.

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Wood clung to life at Arizona's state prison long enough for his lawyers to file an emergency motion to temporarily suspend the execution with the U.S. 9th Curcuit Court of Appeals, after the procedure began at 1:53 p.m.  The motion noted that the inmate "has been gasping and snorting for more than an hour" after being given the drugs.

Lines were run into each of Wood's arms, according to witness and reporter Michael Kiefer. Wood was unconscious by 1:57 p.m., but eight minutes later, he started gasping.

"I counted about 660 times he gasped," Kiefer said. "That petered out by 3:33. The death was called at 3:49."

Executions by lethal injection normally take between 10 to 15 minutes. This execution took nearly two hours, according to the NY Times.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer issued a statement Wednesday saying she was distressed by the length of time it took for the execution to come to an end. She said she ordered the Department of Corrections to coordinate a full review of the process.

"One thing is certain, however, inmate Wood died in a lawful manner and by eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer," Brewer said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona issued a statement requesting a ban on executions.

"What happened today to Mr. Wood was an experiment that the state did its best to hide," Executive Director Alessandra Soler said, according to AZ Central. "Now we see that our government officials cannot be trusted to take seriously our Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment."

The execution was to be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday but the court stopped the process long enough to consider a last-minute petition for post-conviction relief. Witnesses were informed when the stay was issued to return by 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Wood received a death sentence for killing his girlfriend, Debra Dietz, and her father, Eugene Dietz, in 1989 at the family's automotive shop in Tucson.

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