Ohio seeks drug reversing lethal injection process if needed

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio's prisons agency is trying to obtain a drug that could reverse the lethal-injection process if needed by stopping the effects of another drug previously used in problematic executions.

The request to use the drug would come if executioners weren't confident the first of three lethal drugs would render a prisoner unconscious, Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said in federal court testimony Jan. 6.

Mohr said he would inform Republican Gov. John Kasich and ask for a reprieve at that point.

"Governor, I am not confident that we, in fact, can achieve a successful execution. I want to reverse the effects of this," Mohr testified, describing the language he would use in such a circumstance.

Mohr testified that Ohio planned to order the drug, flumazenil, but didn't currently have it.

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith declined to comment Thursday on Mohr's testimony, a copy of which was reviewed by The Associated Press.

Flumazenil is used to reverse the effects of a sedative called midazolam when that drug causes bad reactions in patients.

Midazolam is the first drug in Ohio's new three-drug execution method. Magistrate Judge Michael Merz is weighing a challenge to this method's constitutionality, following a weeklong hearing.

Ohio plans to put child killer Ronald Phillips to death next month with midazolam and two other drugs.