Ohio's new governor delays first scheduled execution under his watch based on concerns about lethal-injection drugs

As reported in this local article, headlined "Gov. Mike DeWine delays killer’s execution, orders review of lethal-injection drugs," this afternoon brought some interesting news on the capital administration front from Ohio's capital. Here are the details:

Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday postponed the execution of murderer Warren Henness from Feb. 13 to Sept. 12 following a recent judicial ruling that Ohio’s lethal-injection cocktail will “very likely cause him severe pain and needless suffering.”  In a release, DeWine said that he has also directed Ohio’s prisons agency to assess the state’s current options for execution drugs and examine possible alternative drugs.

On Jan. 15, federal magistrate judge Michael Merz ruled that the three drugs Ohio has used since last year for executions — midazolam (as a sedative), a paralytic drug, and potassium chloride (to stop the heart) — are likely unconstitutionally “cruel and unusual punishment.” Merz cited testimony from medical witnesses that high doses of midazolam and other drugs cause pulmonary edema, causing a painful drowning sensation comparable to the torture tactic of waterboarding.

However, Merz allowed Henness’ execution to proceed because, under a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, death row inmates challenging how they will be put to death must show that an alternative means of execution is “available,” “feasible,” and can be “readily implemented.”

Henness’ proposed alternatives -- drinking secobarbital in a sweet liquid such as apple juice, or an oral injection of four drugs – were rejected by Merz on the grounds that neither method has ever been used to carry out an execution, they would take more than an hour to kill Henness, and that there isn’t a proven way to obtain the drugs.

DeWine, in his statement, noted that Henness has appealed Merz’s ruling, but the governor said he delayed the execution because of the magistrate judge’s opinion.

David Stebbins, Henness’ attorney, said in a statement Friday: “We commend Governor DeWine for his leadership and for ensuring the justice system operates humanely in Ohio.”

Henness was convicted of murdering his drug-abuse counselor, Richard Myers, in 1992.  Prosecutors said Henness kidnapped Myers, shot him five times at an abandoned water-treatment plant, severed Myers’ finger to get his wedding ring, then drove around in Myers’ car for several days forging his checks and using his credit cards to get cash and buy crack cocaine....

Ohio, like many other states with the death penalty, has struggled to obtain lethal-injection drugs since European pharmaceutical companies cut off further sales on moral and legal grounds.  After the controversial execution of killer Dennis McGuire in January 2014, Ohio imposed a three-year moratorium on executions as it worked to find a new lethal-injection protocol — and suppliers willing to sell the state the drugs.

Since the moratorium was lifted in 2017, Ohio has executed three people using the current three-drug cocktail — all without complications or unexpected problems with the drugs.  However, the execution of a fourth condemned inmate, Alva Campbell, was postponed after several unsuccessful attempts to insert an IV.  Campbell died in his cell a few months later.