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Appeals Court Rules Ohio’s Execution Drug Method Is Constitutional After All
By: Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau
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A federal appeals court says an execution set for next May can go forward, because the condemned killer didn’t prove his claim that the state’s three-drug execution method is unconstitutional.
Attorneys for Wayne Keith Henness argued the mixture creates the sensation of waterboarding. But the 6thCircuit Court of Appeals said they didn’t prove that.
The ruling reverses a decision from a federal magistrate earlier this year, who had said the lethal injection method was cruel and unusual punishment.
But Gov. Mike DeWine said because of problems getting execution drugs, he can’t see a method that works under state law.
Henness is set to die in May, but the next inmate on the schedule is Cleveland Jackson of Allen County, on Nov. 13.