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Judge Won’t Stop Condemned Ohio Killer’s Execution
By: Associated Press
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A federal judge has declined to block a condemned Ohio child killer's upcoming execution at the request of lawyers suing over the state's updated process for carrying out capital punishment.
The decision by Columbus judge Gregory Frost Thursday upholds the Nov. 14 execution of Ronald Phillips despite questions about the state's new option of using either of two untried lethal injection methods.
One method is a non-federally-regulated dose of pentobarbital, while the other is a first-ever combination of a sedative and painkiller.
Phillips' attorneys are also challenging a change in the execution policy that allows the prisons director to delegate certain responsibilities of the process to other individuals.
The 40-year-old Phillips was sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993.