COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A federal appeals court is weighing a challenge by death row inmates of an Ohio law that shields the names of companies that provide lethal injection drugs.
The pending decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will help determine whether Ohio will proceed with its first executions in three years beginning in February.
Ohio plans to execute Ronald Phillips on Feb. 15 for raping and killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in 1993. Another execution is scheduled for April.
At issue is a 2015 law approved by lawmakers in hopes of jumpstarting executions in Ohio, which have been on hold since January 2014. That’s when it took condemned inmate Dennis McGuire 26 minutes to die from a never-before-used two-drug method while he repeatedly gasped and snorted.
The secrecy law blocks anyone from getting information about individuals or entities participating in executions, including companies that make or mix drugs.