"Ohio sees third postponed execution in two months," is the AP report filed by Andrew Welsh-Huggins. It's via Zanesville Times Recorder.
Gov. John Kasich announced Friday he was postponing the Sept. 20 execution of a man sentenced to die for the stabbing death of a Cleveland woman, while a lawsuit over the state's death penalty procedure is pending in federal court.
The postponement of Billy Slagle's execution marked the third time in the last two months a condemned Ohio inmate has received a temporary reprieve.
The delay until Aug. 7, 2013, came at the request of the Ohio prisons department because of the pending lawsuit, said Vicki Werneke, a federal public defender who represents Slagle.
And:
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost had planned a Sept. 13 hearing on Slagle's request for a delay while Frost considers arguments that the state's execution policies are haphazard and applied inconsistently.
After Kasich's announcement, Slagle's attorneys withdrew their request for a delay.
Also:
In July, Frost ripped the state's execution procedures, calling it nonsense and embarrassing that Ohio fails to follow its own policies in carrying out executions.
In August, Ohio submitted updated policies that require strict adherence to the rules and a post-execution review of procedures.
In explaining Friday's decision, Kasich's office said in a news release that the prisons department continues to train its employees on revised execution procedures.
Frost's order delayed the execution of Kenneth Smith, who was scheduled to die July 19 for the slayings of husband and wife Lewis and Ruth Ray in their Hamilton home during a 1995 robbery. Smith's execution has not been rescheduled.
After Frost's ruling, Kasich then delayed the scheduled Aug. 16 execution of 37-year-old Brett Hartman until Nov. 13, 2012. Hartman was sentenced to death for the death of 46-year-old Winda Snipes. She was stabbed more than 100 times, then her hands were cut off.
Earlier coverage of Ohio lethal injection issues begins at the link.
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