Gov. John Kasich’s administration has made the right call in rescheduling to next year all executions planned for this year in Ohio.
A nationwide shortage of drugs previously used in executions has mired lethal injections in legal, medical, and logistical uncertainty. Proceeding with executions now would almost certainly subject the state to more court challenges and supply shortages, as well as botched executions that could threaten the state’s death penalty law.
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The new schedule for next year calls for executions though November, starting with Ronald Phillips of Summit County in January, 2016. Phillips had been scheduled to die next week. Next year’s schedule includes the executions of three men from Franklin County and one from Lucas County — William Montgomery, on Aug. 15.
Ohio’s last execution was Jan. 16 of last year. Dennis McGuire, convicted of rape and murder, choked, gasped, and snorted for as long as 25 minutes — a debacle that sparked global headlines. For that execution, Ohio used a two-drug cocktail that never had been tried before.
In announcing revised execution dates for six death row inmates previously scheduled to die this year, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) cited prior orders by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost that stayed executions to allow the department and defense lawyers to prepare for the new execution protocol, which took effect last month. That’s when DRC revised its risky protocols for lethal injections, scrapping its two-drug regimen of midazolam and hydromorphone.
Last April, the department said it would continue to use the same drugs in future executions that were used on McGuire, but in larger quantities. That plan could have opened Ohio’s death-penalty law to constitutional challenges, based on the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
One of several bungled executions across the country last year, McGuire’s death followed a national shortage of drugs used in lethal injections. Citing moral and legal reasons, European pharmaceutical companies had blocked sales of Ohio’s primary execution drug, pentobarbital, to American corrections departments.
Under the new guidelines, pentobarbital remains Ohio’s preferred drug, if it is available. DRC added thiopental sodium to the list of drugs it might use in executions. Rescheduling executions to 2016 will give DRC more time to secure an adequate supply of the drugs.
The Kasich administration should be commended for attempting to ensure that executions in Ohio are constitutional, effective, and humane. Given several high-profile botched executions and added scrutiny by federal courts, that’s a prudent and responsible course.
First Published February 6, 2015, 5:00 a.m.