[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

July 26



OHIO----execution

Ohio child-killer Ronald Phillips executed at Lucasville



Ronald Phillips could not avoid his 7th execution date.

After 6 postponements, the 43-year-old Summit County man was executed Wednesday 
for a murder he committed 24 years ago, a week into Bill Clinton's 1st term as 
president. Phillips' victim was Sheila Marie Evans, the 3-year-old daughter of 
his then-girlfriend.

The time of Phillips' death was 10:43 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional 
Facility near Lucasville.

There were no complications.

Watching as Phillips died on the other side of a large glass window were Renee 
Mundell, the deceased girl's half-sister, and Donna Hudson and John Evans, her 
aunt and uncle.

Also witnessing his brother's execution was William Phillips. The execution was 
delayed a few minutes to permit the condemned prisoner to visit with his 
brother, who was late arriving at the prison.

Had she lived, Sheila would have been 27 years old. She was just 3 when, over 2 
or 3 days in January 1993, she was beaten, repeatedly raped anally, thrown 
against a wall, dragged by her hair, and punched so hard in the abdomen by 
Phillips that it killed her.

While there was no doubt about Phillips' guilt - he confessed to the crime 
after lying at first - his legal appeals have extended for years. Most 
recently, the court fight focused on Ohio's changing lethal injection protocol, 
with Philips' attorneys arguing that the combination of drugs to be used was 
flawed and could be compared to "burning at the stake."

The 3 drugs, used in combination for the 1st time in Ohio, were 500 milligrams 
of midazolam hydrochloride, a strong sedative; 1,000 milligrams of rocuronium 
bromide, a muscle relaxer, and 240 milligrams of potassium chloride, used to 
stop the heart. A total of 6 syringes were used, 2 for each drug.

On 6 previous occasions, Phillips received reprieves from the courts or Gov. 
John Kasich, who was forced to shuffle execution dates due primarily to a lack 
of necessary lethal-injection drugs. However, the state secured a supply of 
drugs in October, Kasich denied Phillips request that his sentenced be commuted 
to life without parole, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case 
Tuesday night - although a pair of justices dissented.

The case puts Ohio in the national spotlight because the state had not held an 
execution since Jan. 16, 2014, when Dennis McGuire struggled, coughed and 
gasped through a 26-minute death marathon. That triggered a series of legal 
appeals and a struggle to find suitable execution drugs. European drugmakers 
have essentially shut down the supply of lethal chemicals to U.S. prisons, but 
Ohio legislators passed a law permitting the state to secretly buy 
lethal-injection drugs from compounding pharmacies that mix chemicals to 
customer specifications. Prison officials hired a contractor to buy drugs from 
abroad, but federal regulators stopped the purchase.

Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999 after a 36-year hiatus. All 53 people 
executed since then have been men. Phillips received 6 stays of execution, once 
to pursue the possibility of donating a kidney to his ailing mother, but the 
surgery never happened, and his mother died.

Last week, a coalition of clergy members, former corrections professionals, 
exonerated inmates and representatives of Ohioans to Stop Executions held a 
Statehouse press conference urging Kasich, who is a Christian, to "follow his 
faith" by sparing Phillips' life.

Also joining the opposition were former Attorneys General Jim Petro and Lee 
Fisher.

A federal judge in Dayton and a 3-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals sided with Phillips' lethal-injection argument, but Ohio Attorney 
General Mike DeWine appealed to the full 6th Circuit, which ruled 8-6 against 
Phillips, clearing the way for his execution.

The Ohio Parole Board, which is required by law to make a recommendation to the 
governor in capital-punishment cases, voted 10-2 against clemency for Phillips 
in December. The board also had voted unanimously against clemency for him in 
2013.

Phillips becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Ohio 
and the 54th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

Phillips becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the 
USA and the 1457th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 
1977.

(sources: The Columbus Dispatch & Rick Halperin)