USA - Ohio. Ohio drops controversial lethal injection drug, postpones upcoming execution.

Ohio drops controversial lethal injection drug, postpones upcoming execution. Ohio’s new execution protocol goes into effect today. The state’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction will no longer use a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone to carry out executions, but rather a single-drug lethal injection, either pentobarbital, or thiopental sodium. Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, informed District Judge Gregory Frost about the changes. The change comes almost one year after the January 16, 2014 execution of Dennis McGuire, 53, who was the first US prisoner to be executed with a new method of lethal injection, using a mix of midazolam and hydromorphone. The execution was the longest in the state’s history, taking more than 25 minutes, during which witnesses said he gasped and seized repeatedly. Mr McGuire’s son and daughter then sued the state, alleging his execution constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The inmate’s lawyer, Allen Bohnert, said at the time that his client’s death had been “a failed, agonising experiment”, and that “the people of the state of Ohio should be appalled at what was done in their names”. The same drug combination later took two hours to kill Joseph Wood in Arizona. The new protocol states that prison authorities should figure out whether there are enough drugs about two weeks before any execution date. If not, corrections officials will notify the office of the governor and the execution could be pushed back to a later date. The next two executions are scheduled to take place before House Bill 663, a new lethal-injection law being challenged by Death Row inmates in court, takes effect in late March. The law allows the state to buy drugs from small compounding pharmacies, which mix batches of drugs to customer specifications. It also permits the state to keep secret the identities of drug suppliers because of concerns for their security. State Public Defender Tim Young said that he “applauded” the change in drugs but “rather than continuing to patch and trying to hide a flawed, decades-old system, it’s time for Ohio to carefully examine the costs, benefits, structure and practices of capital punishment.” The state had to file legal paperwork detailing the new drug protocol with U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost 30 days before the next scheduled execution on Feb. 11. The change means that Dennis McGuire, 53, will be the only person in Ohio to have been put to death using the combination of midazolam and hydromorphone. During his Jan. 16, 2014, execution, McGuire choked and coughed for about 20 minutes before succumbing to the drug mixture. His son and daughter, who witnessed the execution, sued the state, alleging his death was cruel and unusual punishment. The controversy over McGuire’s executions resulted in the postponement of all executions in Ohio last year. Gov. John Kasich will likely postpone the executions of Ronald Phillips, 41, scheduled for Feb. 11, Raymond Tibbetts, 57, scheduled for March 12, and Gregory Lott, 53, is scheduled for May 14. It will be the fifth time in 2½ years that Phillips has had a new execution date, after delays either by Kasich’s clemency actions or reprieves from Frost. Phillips was given a reprieve by Kasich to explore his desire to have transplant surgery to provide a kidney to his ailing mother, but the surgery never took place. Phillips’ attorneys argued in a new motion filed last year that his delays amount to illegal “double jeopardy” and cruel and unusual punishment.