USA - Ohio. Gov. John Kasich granted an eight-month reprieve to Gregory Lott following last month's execution of Dennis McGuire

Republican Gov. John Kasich today granted an eight-month reprieve to Gregory Lott following last month's execution of Dennis McGuire who repeatedly gasped in the state's longest lethal-injection procedure (see Jan. 16). The ruling by Kasich delays until Nov. 19 the execution of Lott. The reprieve says only that "circumstances exist justifying the grant of a temporary reprieve." Lott, 52, was sentenced to die for killing 82-year-old John McGrath by setting him on fire in his home in 1986. With Lott's execution postponed, the next execution would come May 28, when Arthur Tyler is scheduled to die.