Former Federal Appeals Judge Urges Caution as Ohio Reschedules Executions

In a guest column for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, retired federal appeals court judge Nathaniel R. Jones (pictured) urged Ohio to “reconsider its race to death” in scheduling executions while the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection process remains in question. Jones, who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1979 to 2002, criticized the state’s proposed use of the drug midazolam in executions, describing Ohio’s 2014 execution of Dennis McGuire using the drug, in which witnesses said McGuire “gasped loudly for air and made snorting and choking sounds for as long as 26 minutes” before dying. In its aftermath, Ohio temporarily halted executions and announced that it would not use midazolam—which has now been implicated in botched executions in four states—in the future. Jones wrote that, since the McGuire execution, “even more information has emerged about how unsuitable midazolam is for lethal injection.” But despite its prior announcement and the additional evidence concerning midazolam, Ohio in 2016 proposed a new three-drug protocol that included midazolam as the first drug, and the state is defending that protocol in court. After a five-day hearing in which the court heard extensive expert testimony, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Merz held that Ohio had failed to prove that midazolam does not present a substantial risk of harm and declared the state’s proposed execution protocol unconstitutional. Despite the on-going litigation, Ohio set new execution dates both before and after the hearing. “Ohio officials must not risk another unconstitutional execution,” Jones wrote. “That can be done only by placing executions on hold while courts take the time necessary to consider whether Ohio’s problematic protocol passes constitutional muster.” He called on Ohio officials “to agree not to resume executions until the courts determine a lawful method.” On February 10, Ohio Governor John Kasich announced that he was rescheduling eight executions as the state appealed the magistrate judge’s ruling. The earliest execution, which had previously been scheduled for February 15, was moved to May 10.

(A. Welsh-Huggins, “OHIO GOVERNOR DELAYS 8 EXECUTIONS AS COURT FIGHT CONTINUES,” Associated Press, February 10, 2017; N. Jones, “Halt rush to resume Ohio executions before courts rule on death drug’s constitutionality: Nathaniel R. Jones (Opinion),” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 10, 2017.) See Lethal Injection and New Voices.