Federal judge rejects Ohio’s new lethal injection process, stays executions

CLEVELAND (Reuters) – A federal judge dismissed Ohio’s new three-drug lethal injection process on Thursday, declaring it unconstitutional and problematic, and extended the delay of three upcoming executions, according to court officials.

Following a weeklong hearing, Magistrate Judge Michael Merz rejected Ohio’s use of certain sedatives in executions after the state changed its lethal injection process in October, said Kelly Koph, a spokeswoman for his office.

The state had planned to use the new three-drug process on death row inmate Ronald Phillips in a February execution.

The judge’s decision follows a lawsuit brought by dozens of death row inmates in Ohio that challenged the new execution process and said the state had refused to disclose the source of the execution drugs.

Ohio’s last execution took place in January 2014, when it became the first state to use a combination of the sedative midazolam and painkiller hydromorphone when it put Dennis McGuire to death for the 1993 rape and murder of a pregnant woman.

McGuire’s execution, witnessed by his adult children and reporters, took 25 minutes. Witnesses said he gasped and convulsed for 15 minutes.

(Reporting by Gina Cherelus in New York and Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)