Report details how state executes inmates

A judge will consider
whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual
punishment.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The team that executes Ohio’s death row inmates prepares for each lethal injection for a month, undergoes training at least four times a year and must have at least one member who is a nationally certified pathologist, according to state documents released to the public for the first time.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge unsealed a 632-page binder of documents on how the state executes death row inmates, revealing everything from the qualifications of execution team members to how the warden signals for the lethal injection drugs to be administered.

The state turned over the binder two weeks ago to Burge, who will consider whether lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. A status conference on the lawsuit is scheduled for Jan. 8, said ACLU attorney Jeffrey Gamso, who represents two defendants challenging the lethal injection method.

He believes the documents show the execution team is unqualified to carry out the procedure.

“What’s clear is they’re not competent to kill people without torturing them to death. Much of the time they are torturing them to death,” Gamso said. “If these guys aren’t being tortured to death, they’re lucky.”

The documents, originally sealed by Burge at the request of the state, were released Thursday after a public records request from The (Elyria) Chronicle-Telegram and a letter from the newspaper’s attorney. Burge ordered county Prosecutor Dennis Will to redact the names of execution team members in the copies given to the newspaper.

“We believe our execution team members are well-trained and able to carry out the responsibilities they have when it comes to that specific assignment,” said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The state has been reluctant to say anything about who serves on the 16-member execution team and, particularly, the medical training received by the three members who prepare an inmate’s veins and inject the drugs.

The documents show that at least one medical team member is certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists’ Board of Registry. That organization handles certifications for numerous jobs in pathology and laboratory work, including hematologists, phlebotomists and those who work in blood banks, according to the society’s Web site.

Under correction department guidelines, medical team members are drawn from around the state and must be able, under Ohio law, to administer the intravenous drugs used in the lethal injection process.

Before they join the execution team, any would-be member must pass a rigorous screening process that includes a review of their record with the prison system, gain the approval of the warden and other prison officials and be confirmed by a vote of the current execution team members, according to the documents.

The team members practice once a week for four weeks before each execution, including preparation for handling inmates who physically resist.

In one document dealing with the 2006 execution of Darrell Ferguson — a “volunteer” who chose not to appeal his sentence beyond legal requirements — the team planned for how to deal with revive Ferguson if he changed his mind after the first drug, a sedative, had begun to put him to sleep.

Ruben Rivera and Ronald McCloud are challenging the lethal injection method, saying the drugs don’t give the quick and painless deaths required by Ohio law. Each could receive death sentences if convicted in two separate Lorain County murders.

Executioners train using an artificial arm that they inject with water, according to state documents.

Laurie Badzek, director of the American Nurses’ Association’s Center for Ethics and Human Rights, said nurses practice using artificial arms, but likely also would train on consenting patients.