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Ohio execution drugs expire in April – policy stalemate without new supply Ohio delays next execution as it runs out of drugs needed to execute inmates
(about 3 hours later)
Ohio’s supply of lethal injection drugs expires this spring, meaning the state won’t be able to carry out executions past March under its current system unless it finds a source for more drugs, The Associated Press has learned. Ohio said Thursday it’s dropping the two-drug combination administered to an inmate who repeatedly gasped and snorted during a troubling 26-minute execution.
The state has 40 vials of midazolam, the powerful sedative used to render inmates unconscious, which expire 1 April, according to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The state prisons agency also said it will again allow the use of an anesthetic that it previously used from 1999 through 2011.
The state’s execution policy calls for a combination of that drug and a second – the painkiller hydromorphone – meaning it could not proceed with executions without both drugs. The state’s supply of 60 vials of hydromorphone expires1 June, the prisons agency said. The announcement that it’s adding thiopental sodium back to the execution policy immediately raised questions of where the state would obtain such a drug.
Ohio has executions scheduled in February, March, May, July, September and November. Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith declined to comment. In 2011, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction switched to pentobarbital when the manufacturer restricted thiopental sodium’s distribution, making it impossible to obtain for executions.
Governor John Kasich signed a bill into law last month that would shield the names of companies providing lethal drugs to Ohio. The goal of the bill is to make it easier to obtain compounded pentobarbital, the state’s first choice for executions but which it hasn’t been able to find. As part of Thursday’s announcement, the state said the February 11 execution of a condemned child killer is being delayed as the agency secures supplies of the new drug.
If Ohio adjusts its execution policies, including the types of drugs used, any changes must come 30 days before a scheduled execution. That means such updates would likely come this week. The state said in addition to delaying the execution of Ronald Phillips, set to die for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, other executions might also be delayed.
Ohio was the first state to use the combination of midazolam, a powerful sedative, and hydromorphone, a painkiller, when executed Dennis McGuire a year ago.
What transpired was the state’s longest execution, a 26-minute procedure during which McGuire made gasping and snorting sounds. McGuire’s adult children have sued the state over the execution, saying their father endured needless pain and suffering.
Arizona also used the same two-drug combination in a July execution that lasted nearly two hours, far longer than executions normally take.
Ohio had to change its drug policy soon. The state’s remaining supply of midazolam and hydromorphone expires this spring, meaning the prisons agency wouldn’t have been able to carry out executions after March without new supplies, The Associated Press reported earlier Thursday.
Under the new policy, Ohio plans to use a dose of either pentobarbital or thiopental sodium in executions.
With Phillips’ execution on hold, Ohio still has executions scheduled in March, May, July, September and November.
Gov. John Kasich signed a bill into law last month that would shield the names of companies providing lethal drugs to Ohio. The goal of the bill is to make it easier to obtain compounded pentobarbital, the state’s first choice for executions but which it hasn’t been able to find.
Missouri and Texas have supplies of compounded pentobarbital and have used the drug successfully in several recent executions.Missouri and Texas have supplies of compounded pentobarbital and have used the drug successfully in several recent executions.
On 11 February, the state is scheduled to put to death Ronald Phillips for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, Sheila Marie Evans. Four death row inmates have sued over the new law, saying it restricts information that helps inform the public debate over capital punishment.
On 12 March, Raymond Tibbetts is scheduled to die for the 1997 fatal stabbing of Fred Hicks in Cincinnati. One of those inmates, Raymond Tibbetts, is scheduled to die March 12 for the 1997 fatal stabbing of Fred Hicks in Cincinnati.
Four death row inmates including Tibbetts have sued over the new law, saying it restricts information that helps inform the public debate over capital punishment.
The state says 59 vials of hydromorphone previously expired on April 1 of last year, while 29 vials of midazolam expired on 1 May of last year.