Eight executions on tap — and counting

COLUMBUS — All you crooks might want to think twice before bumping somebody off in Ohio.

Because the state now has a proven method for putting murderers to death quickly and seemingly without pain and a long line of Death Row inmates waiting to make the trip to Lucasville for their special meals and last words.

Executions are currently scheduled through October after the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent decisions in several cases. On Friday, justices set Oct. 6 for the execution of Michael Benge, convicted in the 1993 murder of his girlfriend in Butler County.

Granted, we’re no Texas. Yet. That state accounts for 449 of the 1,195 inmates executed in the United States since 1976, according to statistics compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center (online at www.deatpenaltyinfo.org).

Our once-a-month execution schedule won’t match the 24 executions in the Lone Star State last year.

Ohio has put 35 inmates to death since 1999, including last month’s execution of Mark Aaron Brown, convicted of murdering two men at a Youngstown market.

Next up is Lawrence Reynolds, who will make the trip to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility on March 9, barring court action.

In January 1994, Reynolds conned his way into the home of an elderly neighbor. He beat her with a tent pole, tied her up with a telephone cord and strangled her to death.

Temporary reprieve

Reynolds was supposed to be executed in October but received a temporary reprieve from Gov. Ted Strickland as state prison officials developed their new execution protocol.

The new single-drug lethal injection has been used successfully three times to date. I witnessed two of those, and the process went as smoothly as putting someone to death could go.

The one remaining unknown at this point is the effectiveness of the state’s backup execution method in cases where veins are not accessible — a direct injection of a sedative and a painkiller into a major muscle, like the thigh, the deltoid or triceps.

Prison officials began preparing the backup injection about 20 minutes into the execution of Kenneth Biros in December, after they initially struggled to find a suitable vein. But they eventually were able to establish a shunt in one arm, and Biros was put to death without the backup.

It’s highly probable that Ohio’s Death Chamber will be put to use monthly for the immediate future, with several motions to set execution dates pending before the Ohio Supreme Court and about 10 Death Row inmates who have exhausted their state and federal appeals.

Which means Ohio could have executions scheduled monthly through at least the end of 2011. That’s nothing compared to Texas, but it should serve as a word of warning for crooks who want to kill.

X Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at Ohio Capital Blog.