Court sets 26th execution date over objection of 2 justices

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has set an execution date for a condemned killer over the objection of two justices who question establishing dates when the state doesn’t have any lethal drugs.

The court’s 5-2 ruling scheduled Oct. 17, 2019, for James Frazier to die for the 2004 slaying of a woman in the Toledo apartment building where both lived.

The decision today means Ohio now has 26 death row inmates with firm execution dates beginning early next year at a time when the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction still can’t find drugs to put them to death.

Justice Paul Pfeifer says in a dissenting opinion it serves “no rational purpose” to continue to set execution dates without drugs on hand. Justice William O’Neill agreed.