COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The state of Ohio on Monday postponed all scheduled executions until at least 2017 due to recent difficulties in obtaining the drugs needed to perform lethal injections, officials said.
Monday's decision marks the latest obstacle in resuming executions in the state, which had been delayed for two years, over the dwindling availability of the drugs.
The problem is that many compounding pharmacies, which have previously supplied the drugs, are now refusing to sell them to prison officials on legal and ethical grounds. The European Union voted in 2011 to ban the sale of pentobarbital to the United States for use in executions.
In January, Ohio officials postponed all executions set for 2015 in an effort to obtain the drugs needed.
Related
Monday's announcement means nearly half of the 25 inmates on Ohio's death row are receiving a de-facto stay of execution -- some of whom will remain alive for up to three extra years beyond their original execution date.
The death row inmate next marked for execution, Ronald R. Phillips -- who raped and beat a 3-year-old girl to death in 1993 -- was set to die on Jan. 12. But Monday's decision pushed that date back one year, to Jan. 12, 2017.
Ohio's capital punishment trouble reflects a growing obstacle for prisons officials around the United States. Other states, such as Oklahoma, have also acknowledged some difficulty in obtaining the necessary drugs.
Ohio's last execution occurred in January 2014 when killer Dennis McGuire was put to death. Witnesses of his execution, though, said it took up to 25 minutes for McGuire to die and the inmate appeared to gasp for air during the process.
McGuire was the first U.S. death row inmate to be executed with a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone. The complications of his execution, though, raised questions as to the effectiveness of the drug combination.
