Kenneth Biros, who is scheduled for execution in Ohio on December 8, requested an emergency stay of execution in U.S. District Court, arguing that Ohio is moving too fast to use its new, one-drug lethal injection process. Last month, Ohio became the first state to adopt a one-drug lethal injection protocol when its three-drug method came under scrutiny following the botched execution attempt on death row inmate Romell Broom. Biros claims that “the untested method announced last month could jeopardize his right to an execution that does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment,” and that “moving ahead with the process would amount to human experimentation with a system never been used before in the United States or any other country.”

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost, who is considering Biros’s challenge to the one-drug method, also accepted requests from Rommel Broom to testify at a hearing that challenges the state’s efforts to put him to death again. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland stopped Broom’s September 15 execution after officials were unsuccessful in finding a usuable vein. Governor Strickland has also denied Biros’s request for clemency.

(A. Welsh-Huggins, “Ohio dismemberment killer files new delay request,” Associated Press, December 3, 2009). See Romell Broom regarding botched execution attempt. See also Lethal Injection.

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