Court considers legality of Ohio execution process

COLUMBUS (AP) — A federal appeals court plans to consider arguments over the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal-injection process as the state tries to start carrying out executions once again.

At issue is whether a contested sedative, midazolam, is powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two subsequent drugs paralyze them and stop their hearts.

A related issue is whether Ohio has a realistic chance of finding an alternative drug – a barbiturate called pentobarbital – that once was widely used in executions but has become difficult or, in Ohio's case, impossible to obtain.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati had scheduled arguments for today, but reset them for March 7. The court's ruling, likely a few weeks afterward, will be closely watched not just in Ohio but in other states that use midazolam or might be looking to try it.

The case reached the court after Ohio appealed a federal judge's ruling that rejected the state's current three-drug method.

Executions have been on hold since January 2014 when inmate Dennis McGuire took 26 minutes to die under a never-before-tried two-drug method that began with midazolam. The same drug was involved in a problematic execution later that year in Arizona.