Appeals court ruling opens door to resuming executions in Ohio
Ohio moved a CINCINNATI — step closer to resuming executions as a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the state’s favor in a case over its lethal injection process.
In an 8-6 vote, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed a judge’s order that delayed three executions after he declared Ohio’s lethal injection process unconstitutional. The three-drug method includes midazolam, a sedative involved in problematic executions in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio and Oklahoma.
The 6th Circuit ruling clears the way for the state to move forward with the three executions but isn’t a decisive ruling on the constitutionality of the three-drug method. Allen Bohnert, a public defender representing death row inmates, said they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for Ohio’s prisons agency, said the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction “remains committed to carrying out court-ordered executions in a lawful, humane and dignified manner.”
At issue was whether midazolam is powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two subsequent drugs paralyze them and stop their hearts.
The judges, who had a rare hearing June 15 involving the entire court, concluded Wednesday that the inmates demonstrated the execution protocol might cause pain in some people, but said that wasn’t enough.
“Different people may have different moral intuitions as to whether — taking into account all the relevant circumstances — the potential risk of pain here is acceptable. But the relevant legal standard, as it comes to us, requires the plaintiffs to show that Ohio’s protocol is ‘sure or very likely’ to cause serious pain,” and they fell short, the court said.
The dissenting opinion, by Judge Karen Nelson Moore, said the court made the wrong decision about whether the inmates deserved a trial on their claim that the injection process is a cruel and unusual punishment.
“Plaintiffs should not be executed before a trial on the constitutionality of Ohio’s execution method,” she wrote.
A related issue is whether Ohio has a realistic chance of finding an alternative drug — a barbiturate called pentobarbital — that once was widely used in executions but has become difficult or, in Ohio’s case, impossible to obtain.
Ohio executions have been on hold since January 2014 when inmate Dennis McGuire took 26 minutes to die under a never-before-tried twodrug method that began with midazolam. The same drug was involved in a problematic execution later that year in Arizona and earlier this year in Arkansas.
Ohio hopes to execute condemned child killer Ronald Phillips on July 26.
Ohio announced its threedrug method in October and said it had enough for at least four executions, though records obtained by The Associated Press indicated the supply could cover dozens of procedures.
The prison system used 10 milligrams of midazolam on McGuire.
The new system calls for 500 milligrams. The state said there’s plenty of evidence proving the larger amount will keep inmates from feeling pain.
Ohio also said the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in 2015 in a case out of Oklahoma.
Objections to the use of midazolam rely on witness accounts of unusual movement by inmates being executed, something that by itself doesn’t mean the inmate isn’t unconscious, attorneys for the state told the appeals court in a May filing.
A man charged with killing five people in Ohio has been indicted on aggravated murder charges in the deaths of three of them, a mother and her two college-age daughters.
George Brinkman Jr. has been charged in the deaths of 45-year-old Suzanne Taylor and her daughters, 21-yearold Taylor Pifer and 18-yearold Kylie Pifer. Their bodies were found June 11 at their home in North Royalton, a Cleveland suburb.
Brinkman was indicted Tuesday on charges that include aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, kidnapping and offenses against a human corpse.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office tells Cleveland.com it will be seeking the death penalty.
Brinkman also faces murder charges in Stark County in the deaths of 71-year-old Rogell Eugene John and 64-year-old Roberta Ray John.
He is being held on $75 million bond.
A former middle school teacher caught taking an “upskirt” video of a woman in line for ice cream at Progressive Field last summer has avoided jail time.
Richard Abraham, 63, struck a deal with Cuyahoga County prosecutors that saw a felony tampering with records charge dropped, and a voyeurism charge changed
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is opening a $15 million exhibit this weekend to bring fans a taste of the hall’s famous induction ceremonies.
The Cleveland-based museum will unveil its “Power of Rock” experience. The exhibit will feature a 12-minute reel of ceremony highlights by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme.
The film will be played on five moving screens accompanied by laser lights, concert smoke, and under-seat speakers.
Rock disciples also will see a Prince outfit, a Talking Heads bass guitar, and other memorabilia from induction ceremonies on display.
The exhibit is the centerpiece of a three-year overhaul of the Hall of Fame, which has inducted 802 artists since 1986. The “Power of Rock” exhibit opens to the public July 1.
An 8-year-old boy accidentally shot a 10-year-old boy on Monday morning near Lima, according to the Allen County Sheriff ’s Office.
The Lima News reports that authorities responded to a home on Ridge Run Circle at 11:15 a.m. Monday, according to a statement from Sheriff ’s Deputy Sgt. Andre McConnahea. American Township Fire Department and American Township Police Department arrived on scene first and found a 10-year-old boy with a single gunshot wound.
The victim was taken to St. Rita’s Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.