Ohio board recommends no mercy for girl's killer

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Parole Board has recommended against mercy for a condemned killer facing execution next month under the state’s new, untested lethal-injection process.

The board’s unanimous decision today moves death row inmate Ronald Phillips one step closer to being executed for the 1993 rape and killing of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron. The governor has the final say.

Ohio has until Nov. 1 to announce whether it’s using a non-FDA-regulated dose of pentobarbital mixed by a specialty pharmacy for the Nov. 14 execution. The alternative is proceeding with intravenous doses of two other drugs.

The state’s supply of regular pentobarbital expired last month after the manufacturer put it off-limits for executions.

Phillips’ attorneys argue he was the victim of childhood rape. The state says Phillips long denied that.