OHIO EXECUTES 1ST PRISONER AFTER 3 YEARS OF DELAYS

Ohio on Wednesday executed its first prisoner by lethal injection after more than three years of delays.

Ronald Phillips — sentenced to death for the rape and murder of his girlfriend’s daughter — was executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said the procedure lasted 12 minutes, without complications, and that the time of death was 10:43 a.m.

Phillips expressed remorse for his “evil actions” in his final statement, released by the corrections department. “Sheila Marie did not deserve what I did to her. I know she is with the Lord and she suffers no more. I’m sorry to each and every one of you that you lived with this pain all those years,” he said.

The Supreme Court denied a last-ditch appeal from Phillips and two other death row inmates late Tuesday.