COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio inmate has become the first in the nation to be executed using a previously untested combination of two drugs.
Dennis McGuire, 53, was put to death this morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. The time of death was 10:53 a.m., according to a media release from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
Ohio adopted the use of the sedative and painkiller after supplies of its previous execution drug dried up when its manufacturer put it off limits for capital punishment.
McGuire was sentenced for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart in western Ohio’s Preble County.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution when it refused to grant McGuire’s request for a stay yesterday.
A federal judge rejected McGuire’s appeal earlier this week, not buying McGuire’s contention that the drug combination would put him at a substantial risk of severe pain.
Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says McGuire had emotional visits with family members including his son and daughter last night and this morning.