CINCINNATI — Ohio is a step closer to resuming executions after a federal court narrowly voted in the state’s favor in a case over its lethal injection process.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Wednesday reversed a judge’s order that delayed three executions after he declared Ohio’s lethal injection process unconstitutional. The three-drug method includes a sedative involved in problematic executions in Arizona, Arkansas and Ohio.
Attorneys for death row inmates argued that the sedative, midazolam, poses a substantial risk of harm by not rendering inmates deeply unconscious. They plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.
State attorneys say they’ve provided plenty of evidence of midazolam’s effectiveness. The state also argues the Supreme Court upheld the drug’s use in a case from Oklahoma.
Ronald Phillips would be the first inmate executed if the ruling stands. He is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville on July 26, said JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Department fo Rehabilitation and Corrections.
Phillips, 43, of Summit County, was sentenced to death for the 1993 beating, rape and murder of Sheila Marie Evans, his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter.
Phillips would be the first Ohioan to be put to death in three and a half years because of legal appeals and problems by prison officials in obtaining necessary lethal drugs. More than two-dozen executions are scheduled in the coming three years.
Ohio’s last execution was Jan. 16, 2014, when Dennis McGuire struggled against his restraints, gasped for air, choked and coughed for about 20 minutes before succumbing to the lethal drugs.