US experimenting on prisoners because of lethal drug shortage - expert

Convicted Ohio killer Dennis McGuire became on Thursday the first prisoner put to death using a new lethal drug combo. US officials used intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone, to put McGuire to death. Human rights activists accuse state authorities of testing poisons on people. Kara Gotsch, Director of National Programs at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, discussed the controversial issue in a new interview.

What’s your take on the new method used for the execution of a Mr.McGuire? Do you think the use of this never-tried combination is justified?

I certainly think it is very troubling that Ohio is going to such extreme measures to execute its citizens with not previously used drug protocol when there are so many questions about the legitimacy of the penalty to begin with.

What is the authorities explanation? Why did they decide to use this poison?

Pentobarbital, which was the most commonly used drug in the US, not just in Ohio but across the country, has dried out, supplies of this drug are not made available because the European manufacturer of Pentobarbital has now been banned in the US for executions. So, as a results, not just Ohio but states across the country are looking at alternative drugs to use for lethal injection and executions through lethal injection. And lots of experimentation has been going on in Florida, in Missouri and now as you see in Ohio where previously untested drugs are being used. And we are also seeing states going to what is called compounding pharmacies which are not watched over by the food and drug administration in the US using drugs that have not been properly screened and using them on prisoners which is extremely troubling. The procurement of these drugs is happening in some states in secret and we don’t know where the drugs are coming from or who exactly is making them and so it is quite a troubling development.

Am I getting you right, you cannot say that you are actually against this particular drug? It is just a matter of transparency. You want to know more information about this drug.

Yes, in the US our constitution bans cruel and unusual punishment. And lethal injection over the years has become the preferred standard of execution in the US because of a belief that it is less cruel and less painful and more humane to execute someone by that means. Now because the drug protocol is changing and there is so much uncertainty about what the appropriate drug protocol should be, we need to do a lot of research and estimate of making sure that the drugs we are using are in fact humane, which is required under the US constitution that bans cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, the states like Ohio don’t believe that allowing pain in execution violates the constitution and I certainly would disagree with that. If there is pain involved, that would be a violation of the constitution.

McGuire's last-minute request to delay the execution has been rejected. In your opinion, can this be considered a human rights violation?

I think it is very unfortunate that the Federal judge in that case allowed the process to continue. I think they have made some assessments that uncertainty is going to exist because the states are in the position now trying to find alternative drugs to use in lethal injection cases. And so I guess there is some acceptance that there will be a level of uncertainty on the effectiveness of these drugs and whether they in fact will do what they are supposed to do, which is to kill the death row prisoner in a humane way if that is at all possible.

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US: Ohio executes killer with experimental lethal drug combo

A condemned Ohio killer appeared to gasp several times during his prolonged execution with the first use of a never-tried lethal injection process never before tried in the US.

Death row inmate Dennis McGuire made several loud snorting or snoring sounds during the more than 15 minutes it appeared to take him to die.

It was one of the longest executions since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999.

McGuire's stomach rose and fell several times as he repeatedly opened and shut his mouth as his adult children sobbed a few feet away in a witness room as they watched him die.

McGuire was sentenced to die for the death of 22-year-old Joy Stewart in Preble County in western Ohio.

Experimentation in US prisons: Ohio to use untested drug in execution

The state of Ohio is scheduled to inject Dennis McGuire, 53, with two drugs this Thursday. First, the killer will be injected with the sedative midazolam and then the painkiller hydromorphone. When it is over, McGuire will be dead – which is Ohio’s goal - but the procedure is untried and untested. Indeed, the drugs that the state will employ have never been used in a death chamber. Experts have warned in legal proceedings that if the process goes wrong, McGuire will not just peacefully drift away, but will be awake, struggling and failing to pull enough air into his lungs, until the drug overdose that will kill him takes hold. Nonetheless, a federal judge refused to stop the upcoming execution of a condemned Ohio killer.

Judge Gregory Frost's ruling moved Dennis McGuire one step closer to execution by the two-drug method developed after supplies of Ohio's former execution drug dried up. Gov. John Kasich and the Ohio Parole Board have both rejected McGuire's plea for clemency.

The judge said McGuire had failed to present evidence that he would suffer breathing problems alleged by his attorneys, a phenomenon known as "air hunger", and said the risk to McGuire is within constitutional limits.

"The evidence before this court fails to present a substantial risk that McGuire will experience severe pain," Frost said.

Frost, a veteran of Ohio death penalty litigation, acknowledged the novelty of the state's untried method, calling it "an experiment in lethal injection processes".

But until a method violates the Constitution, "The law teaches that Ohio is free to innovate and to evolve its procedures for administering capital punishment," Frost said.

The judge rejected a similar request last year by death row inmate Ronald Phillips, who was set to become the first to die by the new method until Kasich delayed his execution to study the feasibility of Phillips' donating organs to family members.

In the past, other death row inmates have challenged Ohio's lethal drugs on the grounds that they might suffer a severe allergic reaction or were too obese to be put to death humanely.

McGuire, 53, is scheduled to die Thursday for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart in Preble County in western Ohio.

Allen Bohnert, the attorney who argued McGuire's case before Frost, did not immediately comment, saying he planned to confer with the rest of McGuire's legal team.

McGuire also asked the US Supreme Court to delay the execution on the grounds that the jury that sentenced him to die never got to hear the full extent of his chaotic and abusive childhood.

In the lethal injection appeal, McGuire's lawyers had asked Frost to delay the execution while they challenge the proposed two-drug system.

The drug combination won't sedate death row inmate McGuire properly, and he will experience the suffocation-like air hunger syndrome, McGuire's attorneys said in filings earlier this month.

"McGuire will experience the agony and terror of air hunger as he struggles to breathe for five minutes after the defendants intravenously inject him with the execution drugs," the inmate's attorneys said in a Jan. 6 court filing.

They also said McGuire exhibits several symptoms of sleep apnea, which could exacerbate the problem.

The state opposed any delay, presenting evidence that disputed the air hunger scenario. They called McGuire's appeal an eleventh-hour request that was years too late.

The US Constitution bars cruel and unusual punishment. But that doesn't mean execution procedures must be entirely comfortable, Thomas Madden, an assistant Ohio attorney general, told Frost on Friday.

"You're not entitled to a pain-free execution," Madden said.

Supplies of Ohio's former execution drug, pentobarbital, dried up as its manufacturer put it off limits for executions.

Ohio's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction plans to use a dose of midazolam, a sedative, combined with hydromorphone, a painkiller, to put McGuire to death.

Other death penalty states are being challenged by supply shortages.