A condemned killer of two people scheduled to die in less than a month is challenging Ohio’s lethal injection method as well as the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty law.
Death row inmate Gary Otte is also waiting to see whether Gov. John Kasich will spare him by granting clemency.
Otte was sentenced to die for the Feb. 12, 1992, killing of Robert Wasikowski and the Feb. 13, 1992, killing of Sharon Kostura. Both slayings took place in Parma in suburban Cleveland.
Authorities say Otte asked to come inside Wasikowski’s apartment to use the phone and then shot the 61-year-old and stole about $400.
The next day, Otte forced his way into the apartment of the 45-year-old Kostura in the same building, shot her, then stole $45 and her car keys.
In federal court, Otte’s attorneys argue that the state hasn’t shown it can ensure inmates are rendered so deeply unconscious during lethal injection that they won’t suffer serious pain.
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