Ohio could have path to obtaining long-sought execution drug
Source: Associated Press
Andrew Welsh-huggins, Associated Press
Updated 2:34 pm, Monday, June 5, 2017
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Ohio may have a path to obtaining a long-sought lethal injection drug if the state can locate the proper ingredients, the prison system's top lawyer said during a deposition in a legal challenge to Ohio's proposed execution drugs.
The state has been unable to carry out executions on more than two dozen condemned killers because of court challenges to its proposed three-drug method, which includes midazolam, a sedative used in problematic executions in other states.
Gov. John Kasich delayed executions once again in May, including that of Ronald Phillips, now scheduled to die in July for raping and killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993.
Stephen Gray's deposition, taken last year and unsealed May 24, suggests Ohio may have a possible source of a barbiturate called pentobarbital through a compounding pharmacist. Gray said in the deposition that the pharmacist might be able to supply pentobarbital to the state.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Ohio-could-have-path-to-obtaining-long-sought-11197140.php