That's the title of a breaking news report from AP by Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsch-Huggins. It's via the Washington Post.
A federal judge on Wednesday delayed next week’s execution of a man who stabbed to death an elderly couple, saying the state had once again failed to follow its own rules for executions.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost said he does not want to micromanage Ohio executions but added that the Department of Corrections has left him no choice by disobeying his previous orders. Charles Lorraine was scheduled to die by injection on Jan. 18.
Frost said the state failed to document the drugs used in its last execution in November and failed to review the medical chart of the inmate who was put to death.
Frost scolded the state in his opinion by saying if Ohio would do a better job of explaining why it might deviate from its policies, it might not be in this position.
“Do not lie to the Court, do not fail to do what you tell this Court you must do, and do not place the Court in the position of being required to change course in this litigation after every hearing,” Frost wrote. “Today’s adverse decision against Defendants is again a curiously if not inexplicably self-inflicted wound.”
Both the prisons system and the Ohio attorney general’s office were reviewing the decision and could not immediately comment. The state has usually, but not always, appealed similar decisions by Frost to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lorraine’s attorneys applauded Frost’s decision. The “ruling makes it clear that the Constitution protects all individuals against the power of the state and that the government, too, must follow the law,” said federal public defender Allen Bohnert.
And:
Frost acknowledged in his opinion that the state’s departures from the rules seemed minor on the surface, but that Lorraine’s attorney had provided enough evidence that they mattered. Frost said the issue was the state’s failure to follow its own protocol to the letter, not the seriousness of any violations.
In the Nov. 15 execution of Reginald Brooks, evidence indicates that Ohio failed to review Brooks’ medical chart upon his arrival at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, home to Ohio’s death house, as required by the state’s policies.
An inmate’s medical status, especially the condition of his veins, has been an issue since 2009 when executioners tried unsuccessfully to insert needles into an inmate’s veins before the execution was finally called off. Inmate Romell Broom remains on death row, appealing the state’s right to try to execute him again.
Executioners also failed to properly “document the name or description, the expiration date, and the lot number of the execution drugs used” in Brooks’ execution, Frost said.
Judge Frost also wrote:
“Ohio has been in a dubious cycle of defending often indefensible conduct, subsequently reforming its protocol when called on that conduct, and then failing to follow through on its own reforms,” he said.
"Judge halts next week's execution for Ohio couple's killer," by Alan Johnson for the Columbus Dispatch.
Lorraine, 45, was slated to be executed Jan. 18 for murdering 80-year-old, bedridden Doris Montgomery and her 77-year-old husband, Raymond, in 1986.
However, Frost, who previously raised serious questions about Ohio’s execution procedures, ruled today that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction didn’t properly document the drug used or check the medical chart of inmate Reginald Brooks when he was lethally injection on Nov. 15 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
Allen L. Bohnert, Lorraine’s attorney, issued a statement saying calling for a moratorium on executions.
“The court properly ruled that the state’s failures result in federal constitutional problems. ... In light of this and the court's recent similar ruling, we ask that Gov. Kasich issue a moratorium on executions in Ohio until such time as the state is able to adequately assure not only Judge Frost, but the citizens of the State of Ohio that it is able to comply with the U.S. Constitution and its own rules for executing its citizens.”
Earlier coverage of Ohio lethal injection issues begins at the link. Notable posts include:
- Federal Judge OKs Ohio Execution Protocol
- Lethal Injection News From Ohio
- Ohio's New Lethal Injection Protocol
- Federal District Judge Shuts Down Ohio Executions
- Ohio Execution
- More Ohio News - State to Switch Lethal Injection Drug
- New Questions Raised in Ohio's Botched Execution Attempt
Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
Comments