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OHIO (USA): GOVERNOR STRICKLAND DELAYS TWO MORE EXECUTIONS
October 5, 2009: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has delayed the executions of two inmates, hours after a federal appeals court halted the lethal injection of one inmate who was scheduled to die October 8.
Strickland, a Democrat, ordered a review of the state's lethal-injection procedures. Earlier, the state attorney general said he would appeal the court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Both actions stem from the botched execution of Romell Broom three weeks ago. His executioners tried unsuccessfully for nearly two hours to find suitable veins for the lethal chemicals. Strickland then delayed a second execution pending a federal court hearing next month.
Today Strickland postponed the executions of Lawrence Reynolds Jr. and Darryl Durr; March 9 for Reynolds, April 20 for Durr. Earlier today a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled, 2-1, to halt Reynolds' execution. He strangled a 67-year-old Cuyahoga Falls neighbor during a 1994 robbery. Durr raped and killed a Cuyahoga County teenager in 1988 and was scheduled to die next month.
The appeals court said Broom's botched execution raised questions about the state's procedures and the competence of its executioners, the Associated Press reported.
Broom's attorneys will be in federal court Nov. 30 to argue that an unprecedented second execution attempt violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. (Sources: Usatoday.com, 05/10/2009)
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