USA - Ohio. Ohio plans January execution using new 3-drug combination.

Ohio plans January execution using new 3-drug combination. Ohio said it plans to resume executions in January with a new 3-drug combination after an unofficial moratorium dating to early 2014 and blamed on shortages of lethal drugs. It said it will return to an approach it previously used to execute dozens of inmates. The state will use the drugs midazolam, which puts the inmate to sleep; rocuronium bromide, which paralyzes the inmate; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced Monday. The drugs aren't compounded and are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, state Assistant Attorney General Thomas Madden said at a federal court hearing. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of such a combination in a ruling last year regarding Oklahoma's execution protocols. The development opens the way for the Jan. 12 execution of Ronald Phillips. The state also plans to carry out executions on Feb. 15 and March 15. Ohio hasn't put anyone to death since January 2014, when Dennis McGuire repeatedly gasped and snorted during a 26-minute procedure using a never-before-tried 2-drug combo. The state used midazolam in McGuire's execution. The state's former policy called for 10 milligrams of midazolam. The state now plans to use 500 milligrams. The prisons agency said state law shields the origin of the drugs. The state has more than two dozen inmates with firm execution dates sitting on death row, with executions scheduled out as far as October 2019. Madden said the state "tried hard and long" to obtain those drugs before announcing the new process. The state has unsuccessfully tried to find compounded or specially mixed versions. Attorneys representing death row inmates promised an immediate appeal.