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Ohio Must Change Lethal Injection Drugs

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Yesterday, Ohio Judge James Burge ruled that the state's method of putting a prisoner to death is unconstitutional because two of the three drugs used for the injection can cause "an agonizing and painful death." The decision means that Ohio must stop using the two risky drugs, pancuronium bromide (pavulon), a paralytic which has been outlawed by veterinarians, as well as potassium chloride, which stops the heart and can cause excruciating pain if the inmate is not properly anesthetized.The Judge ordered that the state use only a single, anesthetic drug. State officials were reviewing the decision in order to determine if they will appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.Tennessee uses the same drug cocktail in its current protocol, which has also been successfully challenged in Federal Court by death row inmate Edward Jerome Harbison...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on June 11, 2008 (boomark / email).