URGENT ACTION

ohio governor stays two executions

The Governor of Ohio has reprieved two male prisoners who were facing execution in the next month, to give prison authorities more time to establish a “back-up” lethal injection protocol following a recent failed execution. A third man is still scheduled for execution on 8 December. The governor has said he will issue further reprieves if he deems it necessary.

Focus on Ohio’s lethal injection process has increased since 15 September, when the state attempted to execute Romell Broom. Over the course of two hours, the execution team repeatedly tried and failed to find a useable vein in which to insert the lethal injection needle, before finally giving up (see UA 245/09, AMR 51/104/2009, and update). Broom’s execution has been stayed until at least 30 November, pending a hearing in his case.

On 5 October, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution of Lawrence Reynolds, who was scheduled to be put to death on 8 October. It noted that since 2007 the state had had “serious and troubling difficulties in executing at least three inmates, most recently Romell Broom” (the other two were Joseph Clark and Christopher Newton – see UA 253/09, (AMR 51/107/2009). These “disturbing issues”, the court said, called into question the competence of the lethal injection team and the state’s adherence to its execution protocol more generally. As such issues would be heard before the federal judge considering the Broom case, the Sixth Circuit remanded the Reynolds case to that same judge for “fact-finding and evidentiary hearings”.

Later on 5 October, Governor Strickland signed a warrant of reprieve for Lawrence Reynolds, staying his execution until 9 March 2010, and another for Darryl Durr, staying his execution until 20 April 2010. Durr had been scheduled to be put to death on 10 November. The governor said that the failed execution of Romell Broom stemmed from circumstances that “were truly extraordinary” and it was “unlikely” that the prison officials “would ever face such a situation again”. Nevertheless, the governor said, since 15 September the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction “has been working to establish a back-up or alternative lethal injection protocol that would be available should those responsible for carrying out executions for the State ever again be unable to access a sustainable vein at the time of an execution”. More time was needed to research, evaluate and implement alternative procedures, the governor said, and so reprieves were warranted in at least the cases of Lawrence Reynolds and Darryl Durr. He added that he believed the Department’s work could be completed by the time of the next scheduled execution in Ohio, that of Kenneth Biros on 8 December, but that “I will issue any additional reprieves I deem necessary to the appropriate administration of executions under Ohio law”.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English or your own language, in your own words:

• Welcoming the governor’s decision to issue reprieves in the cases of Lawrence Reynolds and Darryl Durr;

• Expressing concern that Kenneth Biros is still scheduled for execution on 8 December;

• Arguing that the death penalty can never be rendered humane;

• Calling for a full moratorium on executions in the State of Ohio, pending abolition of the death penalty.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 17 NOVEMBER 2009 TO: