FEDERAL JUDGE REJECTS OHIO'S NEW LETHAL INJECTION PROCESS
Source: Associated Press
Jan 26, 4:46 PM EST
FEDERAL JUDGE REJECTS OHIO'S NEW LETHAL INJECTION PROCESS
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's efforts to restart executions, including a law shielding the source of its drugs, hit a new setback Thursday as a federal judge declared the state's latest lethal injection process unconstitutional and delayed three executions, including one scheduled next month.
The ruling by Magistrate Judge Michael Merz in Dayton followed a weeklong hearing over the three-drug method Ohio planned to use Feb. 15 on death row inmate Ronald Phillips.
It was the latest in several delays over the years for Phillips, who in the past had his execution delayed by court rulings and by his request, ultimately denied, to donate organs to family members after his death.
The 43-year-old Phillips was sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, Sheila Marie Evans, in 1993.
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