Tennessee’s governor has halted executions while the state deals with the botched execution of a 50-year-old woman who survived lethal injection last night. Christa Pike, convicted of killing a female classmate in 1995, is hospitalized and her condition is unknown.
Ohio hasn’t had an execution since 2018. But two former journalists who have witnessed and written about executions in Ohio said the state has had at least six problematic executions in the past quarter century.
There were 53 executions in Ohio between 1999 and 2017. Retired Columbus Dispatch Reporter Alan Johnson witnessed 21 of them.
“There were, whether you call them botched or mishandled executions or whatever, that stood out among those,” Johnson said in an interview. He noted his experience witnessing the death of Dennis McGuire on Jan. 16, 2014. McGuire was convicted of the 1989 aggravated murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart, who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder.
“(The execution team) did complete the execution, but he took a very long time, at least in the overall scheme of things, to die,” Johnson said. “He struggled, he raised up, he tried to get up off the table. He couldn't, of course, since he's restrained. He clenched his fist, and he wheezed, and he gasped, and you could see his chest and stomach rising and falling in huge gasps.”
Johnson added: “It was excruciating as a reporter to watch, and next to me were his son and daughter who were witnessing, and you can imagine the difficulty in watching your father being put through that for two children.”
McGuire died after 25 minutes.
Retired Associated Press journalist Andrew Welsh-Huggins also witness executions and wrote about them in his book “No Winners Here Tonight.” He recalled a couple of botched attempts at execution.
“Romell Broom, back in 2009—the execution team spent almost two hours trying to find a usable vein. They made 18 attempts with needles in his arms and his legs before that execution was halted,” Welsh-Huggins said in an interview.
He was also set to observe the attempted execution of Alva Campbell, who was sentenced to death for a murder in Franklin County.
“I actually witnessed that execution that was called off after execution team members worked for like an hour and a half for attempts to just establish an IV line as compromised veins,” Welsh-Huggins said.
Welsh-Huggins said Campbell was in poor health and the state agreed to prop him up during the execution so he could breathe properly while he was put to death. And Welsh-Huggins added the team that deals with the actual execution has limited medical knowledge.
Welsh said one thing to remember is different people react differently to drugs.
“You have a huge variety of body types. I mean, that's typical in society and that's been the case in the prison. You've had a number of overweight inmates where it's been very difficult to access a vein. You've had inmates in poor health. You've had inmates where their veins were compromised by years of drug use before they were incarcerated,” Welsh-Huggins said. “So the physical nature of a person is definitely going to determine whether you can access the veins successfully. And there have been cases in Ohio and other places where veins have ruptured or they simply could not get a usable vein.”
Lethal injection process has changed
The drugs used in Ohio’s lethal injection process have changed over time as has the way the drugs are administered. And in recent years, there has been a shortage of some drugs used in executions. Some drug manufacturers have threatened to withhold drugs from states that use them in lethal injections.
When asked about the current lethal injection drug protocol the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) uses, the agency's spokeswoman pointed the Statehouse News Bureau to its policy guidelines. ODRC's policy on “Execution Drugs” includes any of the following three options, under whatever names those drugs may be available to DRC from a pharmacy, manufacturer, supplier, wholesaler, distributor, pharmacist, or compounding pharmacy: 1) Pentobarbital; or 2) Thiopental sodium; or 3) A three-drug combination of: a. Midazolam Hydrochloride; and b. One of the following three drugs: i. Vecuronium bromide; or ii. Pancuronium bromide; or iii. Rocuronium bromide; and c. Potassium Chloride.”
ODRC said director Edward Banks is unable to comment further about Ohio’s lethal injection process “due to his and many other DRC staff being named defendants in pending federal court litigation (See In Re: Ohio Execution Protocol Litigation, United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Case No. 2:11-cv-01016).”
Lethal injection is the only method of execution allowed in Ohio
In 1993, the Ohio Legislature passed a law making lethal injection an alternative to electrocution in the electric chair, with inmates making the choice. But that changed when former death row inmate John Byrd was executed in 2002.
“John Byrd felt he was innocent and wanted to have an execution that was dramatic and violent, and he wanted to die in the electric chair and opted for it," said Johnson. "And the legislature quickly acted to eliminate the electric chair for a while, and executions in those early days, the chair was still in place in the same room as the lethal injection table, but then they took out the chair, so the table where the person is laid down to be executed is now the only method that Ohio has to my knowledge.”
DeWine called for the state to abolish the death penalty earlier this year, after delaying every execution since he took office in 2019. He's said lawmakers need to change the law if they want executions to go forward. There have been bills to allow to add nitrogen gas as an execution method and to permit execution by fentanyl confiscated by law enforcement. Former Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters, now an Ohio Supreme Court justice, suggested death by firing squad in 2018. But none of these ideas have gained traction.
ODRC data shows more than 100 men and one woman are on death row. And eight inmates have executions scheduled in 2027. Whoever is elected governor in November will determine what to do with executions in the future. Welsh-Huggins thinks those executions planned for next year may be delayed again.
“I think it’s hard to say exactly what’s going to happen. I would not predict we are going to see a rush of executions next year either way," said Welsh-Huggins.
