Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ohio Lethal-Injection Process, Vacates Execution Stays

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on June 28 reversed the decision of a federal district court that had stayed executions in Ohio. In an 8-6 en banc decision, the court voted to allow Ohio to proceed with executions using a proposed combination of the controversial sedative midazolam, the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide, and the heart-stopping drug potassium chloride. Midazolam has been implicated in botched executions in Alabama, Arizona, Ohio, and Oklahoma and flawed executions in Arkansas. After a five-day evidentiary hearing in early January 2017, the District Court issued a preliminary injunction that stayed the executions of Ohio death-row prisoners Ronald Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, and Gary Otte. At that time, it found “that administration of a paralytic drug and potassium chloride will cause a person severe pain” that would not be amerliorated by using midazolam, that the protocol itself created a “substantial” and “objectively intolerable” risk of serious harm, and that a compounded version of the drug pentobarbital was available as an alternative method of execution. The State appealed that decision to the Sixth Circuit, and in April, a three-judge panel affirmed the lower court’s decision. The State then appealed that decision to the full court (a procedure called en banc review). The majority agreed that the prisoners “have shown some risk that Ohio’s execution protocol may cause some degree of pain,” but said “some risk of pain ‘is inherent in any method of execution—no matter how humane’” and “the Constitution does not guarantee ‘a pain-free execution.’” Allen Bohnert, one of the lawyers for the prisoners, said in a statement: “Multiple executions have demonstrated that midazolam is not a suitable drug for lethal injection, and especially when used with the two excruciatingly painful drugs Ohio abandoned in 2009. … Ohio should not take the risk of continued botched executions by going back to using these dangerous, unsuitable drugs.” He said the prisoners will seek review of the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court because “[n]o one in Ohio wants to see another botched execution.” The decision permits Ohio to move forward with 30 executions that are scheduled between this month and 2021, while the District Court conducts a full trial on the lethal-injection challenge brought by death-row prisoners. Ohio has scheduled the execution of Ronald Phillips for July 26.

(K. Lessmiller, Divided Sixth Circuit Lifts Ban Against Executions in Ohio, Courthouse News Service, June 28, 2017; E. Heisig, “Ohio can use three-drug combination to resume executing those on death row, appeals court says,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 28, 2017; A. Johnson, “US Supreme Court will be asked to halt Ohio executions,” The Columbus Dispatch, June 28, 2017; News Release, “Attorney Statement on Ohio Lethal Injection Decision,” June 28, 2017 ) Read the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in In re: Ohio Execution Protocol, No. 17-3076 here.