COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the wake of an unusually long execution, the American Civil Liberties Union is asking Gov. John Kasich to put executions on hold in Ohio.
In a letter to Kasich, the ACLU asks him to “use his executive authority to declare an immediate halt to executions in Ohio.”
Records show Dennis McGuire took 26 minutes to die during his execution last Thursday, during which he gasped repeatedly. That is the longest amount of time since the state resumed putting inmates to death 15 years ago.
“This is not about Dennis McGuire, his terrible crimes, or the crimes of others who await execution on death row. It is about our duty as a society that sits in judgment of those who are convicted of crimes to treat them humanely and ensure their punishment does not violate the Constitution,” reads the letter signed by ACLU of Ohio executive director Christine Link and president of the Board of Directors Jack Guttenberg.
The ACLU says the five remaining executions scheduled this year in Ohio could involve the same two-drug combinations used for the first time in McGuire’s execution.
“We are mere months away from new recommendations from the Ohio Supreme Court Taskforce on the Administration of the Death Penalty that could alter our system for the better. On the eve of monumental changes, along with increasing problems with lethal injection, is not now the time to step back and pause?” read the letter.