"Lawyers Seek Details on Ohio Executioner's Cancer," is the title of Andrew Welsh-Huggins' AP report. It's via ABC News.
The Ohio executioner known only as Team Member 17 has cancer, and a federal judge is allowing lawyers for a condemned inmate to seek details about his condition despite state concerns their request is merely meant to annoy and embarrass him.
The legal battle comes amid a renewed debate over the death penalty after the execution this week of a Georgia inmate whose pleas of innocence sparked worldwide outrage.
It also opens a window into the secrecy-shrouded lives of the teams responsible for putting inmates to death. States conscientiously protect their identities to shield them from harassment and questions about medical ethics.
And:
Ohio's execution team consists of three individuals who prepare and administer the drug and a bigger group that serves as security, escorting inmates to the death chamber. The training executioners receive for inserting IVs has long been fought over in several lawsuits.
Team Member 17 is a full-time prison guard at Oakwood Correctional Facility in Lima who does not insert IVs as part of his regular job, according to testimony he gave in a related federal lawsuit two years ago.
Like all Ohio executioners, he volunteers for the procedures, which take place at the maximum-security prison in Lucasville. He has been both a backup executioner, preparing the drugs beforehand, and the administrator of the injection.
Team Member 17 has had cancer at least since May 2010, when he missed the execution of Michael Beuke, a hitchhiker who killed three people in the Cincinnati area in 1983 and was put to death last year, according to a court document filed by the state seeking to shield information about the cancer. The state proceeded without Team Member 17 and without finding a backup.
Also:
The relevance of an executioner's health has arisen elsewhere. A judge banned Dr. Alan Doerhoff from participating in Missouri executions after he acknowledged in 2006 he had dyslexia and it was not unusual for him to make mistakes.
The same year in California, a judge said the state had inconsistently screened execution team members, including the lead executioner, who had post-traumatic stress disorder from his work in prisons.
Arizona removed an execution team member after a judge's 2009 order noting the man had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder following military service in Iraq.
Earlier lethal injection coverage from Ohio begins at the link; also, more on Dr. Alan Doerhoff. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
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