Condemned Youngstown inmate joins lethal-injection challenge

COLUMBUS (AP) — A federal judge has allowed an inmate scheduled to die Feb. 4 for killing a convenience store owner and a store clerk to challenge Ohio’s lethal-injection system.

The decision today by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost does not delay next week’s execution of 37-year-old Mark Aaron Brown of Youngstown.

Brown has joined a lawsuit filed last month that challenges the state’s new injection procedure, which includes a never-before-tried backup method that injects drugs directly into muscles.

Brown has asked Judge Frost to delay his execution while he makes his injection challenge, but the judge hasn’t ruled on that request.

Brown also is seeking a delay in state courts to argue that newly uncovered evidence should spare him.

Brown was sentenced to die for the 1994 fatal shooting of Isam Salman, owner of Midway Market on Elm Street, Youngstown, and store clerk Hayder Al-Turk.