Four Death Row inmates who are suing Ohio officials over a new state law that shields the names of companies providing lethal-injection drugs want a federal court to prevent the law from taking effect in March.
The Great Ohio Death Drug Mystery
If Ohio has indeed found sodium thiopental — which is widely known to be difficult to come by — it raises the possibility that the state has found an unorthodox method of procurement, calling to mind the days when prison officials made handoffs of execution drugs and paid unregulated compounding pharmacies in cash.
Ohio to discard controversial two-drug cocktail from use in executions
“However, the state, which has seen four executions go horribly wrong, is about to issue its sixth execution protocol in five years. Ohio needs to take a comprehensive look at its death penalty system and execution process, something the state hasn’t done since it re-implemented the death penalty in 1981,” Young said.