(Ohio) Governor halts 2 executions as state works on lethal injection protocol

[Bill McBlueState]

Source: Toledo Blade

Gov. Ted Strickland Monday issued reprieves for a pair of death row inmates facing imminent execution as the state reworks its lethal injection protocol in the wake of a failed execution attempt last month.

The governor issued reprieves until March and April respectively for Lawrence Reynolds, of Summit County, who had been scheduled to die on Thursday, and Darryl Durr, of Cuyahoga County, whose lethal injection was set for Nov. 10.

The action came just hours after the Cincinnati-based U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to postpone Reynolds’ execution while a federal judge looks into allegations from a third man, Romell Broom, whose execution went awry on Sept. 17. Broom and Reynolds have argued that Ohio’s lethal injection process violates their constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment.

In an unprecedented move, Mr. Strickland intervened to halt Broom’s execution two hours into the process after the state’s team of medical technicians failed, after as many as 18 attempts, to find a viable vein through which the lethal cocktail of three drugs could flow.

Read more: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091005/NEWS24/910059970

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This is a continuation of a story that's been developing all day:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4090514&mesg_id=4090514
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4090910&mesg_id=4090910

[Soylent Brice]

1. thanks for keeping up on this.

[No Elephants]

2. Good for him. Next step: eliminate the death penalty.

[JeanGrey]

3. Ridiculous. 18 tries? Do a cut down.

I only wish I had these options, I am slowly dying of cancer and loss of breath, if ONLY I could get something as humane as lethal injection. And I only had to kill someone. Who knew?