On August 8 U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost ruled that no exe­cu­tions may be car­ried out in Ohio until at least January 2015. The court’s rul­ing length­ened a pre­vi­ous mora­to­ri­um imposed because of prob­lems with the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. Judge Frost said he extend­ed the stay of exe­cu­tions ​“in light of the con­tin­u­ing need for dis­cov­ery and nec­es­sary prepa­ra­tions relat­ed to the adop­tion and imple­men­ta­tion of the new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col.” Three exe­cu­tions, which had been sched­uled for the remain­der of 2014, and one in ear­ly 2015, have been stayed. In January, the exe­cu­tion of Dennis McGuire in Ohio took over 25 min­utes, with wit­ness­es report­ing that McGuire gasped, choked, and appeared to strug­gle against his restraints. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced in April that it would use larg­er dos­es of the same lethal injec­tion drugs in future exe­cu­tions, but Judge Frost stayed all exe­cu­tions until at least mid-August. The state’s pro­posed dosage was the same as that used in the recent botched exe­cu­tion of Joseph Wood in Arizona.

(A. Johnson, ​“Moratorium on Ohio’s exe­cu­tions extend­ed until January,” Columbus Dispatch, August 11, 2014). See Lethal Injection and Botched Executions. See a list of oth­er states where exe­cu­tions are on hold.

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