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Lawyer Suggests Problems with Ohio Execution
By: Associated Press
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LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) – A federal public defender who witnessed the execution of a condemned Ohio killer of two says she thinks mistakes were made.
Defense attorney Carol Wright tried unsuccessfully to leave the witness room to alert a federal judge there appeared to be problems. Wright says she believes the rising and falling of Gary Otte’s chest indicated he was suffering a phenomenon known as air hunger.
His stomach rose and fell several times, resumed after a consciousness check by guards at 10:42, then appeared to fall still a couple minutes later. The time of death was 10:54 a.m.
Wright eventually reached the federal judge overseeing Otte’s case, but it was too late.
Otte, 45, had unsuccessfully argued Ohio’s lethal-injection method put him at risk of suffering serious pain.