At 10 a.m. today, the
State of Ohio executed Lewis Williams by lethal injection, despite
an ongoing controversy over one of the drugs used in Ohio’s
lethal injection protocol.
Ohio’s lethal injection protocol includes a paralyzing agent,
pancuronium bromide, that could leave the inmate conscious before
death, but cast a chemical veil over the excruciatingly painful
effects of death by suffocation and heart attack. On Dec. 31,
2003, the Office of the Ohio Public Defender filed a complaint in
the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio under
42 U.S.C. § 1983, arguing that Ohio’s use of pancuronium
bromide violates inmates’ constitutional rights.
Federal appeals courts in Virginia and Alabama have delayed
executions based on similar arguments.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals rejected the complaint on Jan. 12. The following day, the
Public Defender requested that all 12 judges review the case. The
6th Circuit Court later rejected Williams’ request to
stay the execution, as did the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing an appeal from an
Alabama death row inmate, who argues that execution by lethal
injection would be unconstitutionally cruel because he suffers
from collapsed veins.
"Lewis Williams’ execution should have been delayed
while the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Alabama case," argued
Stephen Ferrell, an assistant state public defender representing
Williams. "There has been a lack of consistency in the
federal courts’ rulings on this issue. Why do inmates in some
states get to present their claims, while others do not?"
During the execution procedure, Williams struggled with guards
and professed his innocence. At one point, nine guards had to
restrain Williams, who was 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 117
pounds.
Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction, described the execution as
"disturbing" and "traumatic."
The State Public Defender’s office will continue to pursue
the pancuronium bromide complaint on behalf of Plaintiff John
Glenn Roe, who is scheduled to be executed on Feb. 3.
