COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s governor has refused to spare the condemned killer of a 3-year-old girl ahead of a scheduled execution under the state’s untried lethal injection system.
Gov. John Kasich without comment on Thursday denied the request for mercy by Ronald Phillips. He is sentenced to die for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend’s daughter.
The 40-year-old Phillips is set to die Nov. 14 by lethal injection with a drug combination never used before in the U.S.
A federal judge earlier Thursday also declined to block the execution.
Attorneys for Phillips argued he was sexually, physically and verbally abused as a child.
The state said Phillips long denied being abused and raised the issue only as his execution was imminent.
The Ohio Parole Board recommended against mercy.