Judge Won't Stop Condemned Ohio Killer's Execution

A federal judge has declined to block a child killer's upcoming execution at the request of lawyers suing over Ohio's new process for carrying out capital punishment. The decision by Judge Gregory Frost in Columbus on Thursday upholds the Nov. 14 execution of Ronald Phillips. The state is planning to use either of two untried lethal injection methods. One method is a non-federally-regulated dose of pentobarbital, while the other is a first-ever combination of a sedative and painkiller. Phillips' attorneys also are challenging a change in the execution policy that allows the prisons director to delegate certain responsibilities of the process to other individuals. The 40-year-old Phillips was sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993.