Ohio’s death penalty became a very public issue last January, after the botched execution of Dennis McGuire. Executed with a two-drug combination — midazolam and hydromorphone — never tried before in the United States, McGuire, 53, took as long as 25 minutes to die, as he convulsed, gasped, and snorted.
Last February, Ohio postponed scheduled executions to review its procedures — one of several states to do so in 2014 because of protracted and apparently painful executions.
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A nationwide shortage of drugs traditionally used in lethal injections, such as pentobarbital, has forced states to look for alternative drugs — often with troubling results. In Oklahoma, a warden called the execution last April of Clayton Lockett “a bloody mess.” An execution in Arizona took nearly two hours while the prisoner gasped.
Pausing executions in Ohio was prudent. Since then, however, the administration of Gov. John Kasich has too often proceeded with ill-advised secrecy.
With the execution of Ronald Phillips of Summit County set for Feb. 11, the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction won’t say what steps it has taken to end a federal judge’s moratorium on executions and ensure that Phillips’ execution will be efficient, humane, and constitutional.
Last April, the department said it would use the same drugs in future executions that were used on McGuire, but in larger quantities. If that’s the plan, the administration needs to show why it believes increasing dosages will produce a better result. Asked about the issue by The Blade’s editorial page, spokesman JoEllen Smith said in an email: “If any changes are made to the execution policy, DRC will notify the court at least 30 days in advance of a scheduled execution, as we have done in the past.” She declined further comment.
Why all the secrecy?
In Oklahoma, after Lockett took 45 minutes to die, the state took steps to improve training and procedures. The plan didn’t satisfy opponents of further executions, but at least the public knew what its government was doing.
Not so in Ohio, where Governor Kasich signed an egregious bill last month that shields the identities of lethal-injection drug manufacturers. Among other things, the new law prevents the public from evaluating how drugs from pharmacies used by Ohio are working in other states. Such scrutiny is even more important since states started turning to compounding pharmacies that make drugs without federal oversight.
The administration’s lack of transparency should trouble the most ardent death penalty supporters. It undermines open and accountable government, arrests public debate, and opens executions in Ohio to numerous constitutional challenges. The new law shielding the identities of lethal-injection drug makers already faces a federal court challenge by four death-row inmates.
In 2014, U.S. executions fell to a 20-year low — and botched executions in Ohio and other states were partly responsible. Nationwide, 35 people were executed last year, down from a high of 98 in 1999, the Death Penalty Information Center reports. DNA evidence exonerated another seven people in 2014 who were sentenced to death.
As states continue to experiment with lethal drug cocktails, Ohioans need to know whether executions here can proceed properly. Sadly, the administration is making that practically impossible.
First Published January 5, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
