Court: Execution method constitutional

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection method two weeks before a scheduled execution.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati says two inmates challenging the three-drug method haven’t proven the process poses an unacceptable risk of pain and suffering.

The court Thursday upheld a judge’s ruling last year on arguments brought by condemned killers Alva Campbell and Raymond Tibbetts.

Prison officials stopped Campbell’s execution in November after they couldn’t find a usable vein. He remains on death row.

Tibbetts is scheduled to die Feb. 13 for killing a Cincinnati man in 1997.