Ohio completes another one-drug lethal injection execution (with a slight hiccup)

As detailed in this local article, which is headlined "Killer of 5 children is executed; Garner had set fire to cover up burglary in Cincinnati," Ohio continues to find success with its one-drug lethal injection execution protocol. But, intriguingly, it appears that today's Ohio execution had a little hiccup:

A Cincinnati man who set an apartment fire that snuffed out the lives of five children was executed this morning. William L. Garner, 37, was lethally injected at 10:38 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.

"To the state of Ohio, thank you, I'm free," Garner said, reading from a three-page, handwritten statement. "Thank God Almighty, I'm free now."

However, the execution concluded with an unusual element: The curtain was pulled to obscure Garner from witnesses for nearly 10 minutes before he was declared dead. Ernie L. Moore, director of the state prison system, said authorities thought they heard "faint heart sounds" and decided to wait for five minutes behind the closed curtain.

Rod Mack, the lone survivor of the Jan. 26, 1992, smoky blaze at 1969 Knob Ct. in Cincinnati, was one of nine witnesses who watched Garner's execution.  Because there were so many witnesses, some watched in person in the Death House, while others saw him die on closed-circuit television in a nearby room at the prison....

Gov. Ted Strickland last night refused to use his clemency power to spare Garner's life.  The Ohio Parole Board voted 7-0 against clemency, concluding that he "knowingly murdered five children in selfish greed."...

He was the sixth Ohioan executed this year and the 39th since capital punishment resumed in 1999.