Ohio execution: New drug protocol, but 15 minutes to die

The process, using a two-drug protocol, is the latest attempt by states seeking a way to execute prisoners in a constitutionally approved manner that avoids cruel and unusual punishment. The issue has been complicated because the manufacturer of a drug previously used made it unavailable for use in capital punishment.

According to a pool report from journalists who witnessed the execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, McGuire took more than 15 minutes to die and made “several loud snorting or snoring sounds.”

McGuire’s attorney, federal public defender Allen Bohnert, called the death “a failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio.”

In keeping with its policy, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced only the time of death, 10:53 a.m. McGuire was sentenced to death for murdering Joy Stewart, 22, in 1989. Stewart was about 30 weeks pregnant.

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