The Lima News (OH): Editorial: Sacrificing transparency a bad option in lethal-injection bill

[Stefanie Faucher]

http://www.limaohio.com/news/editorial-opinon/50721790/Sacrificing-transparency-a-bad-option

Editorial: Sacrificing transparency a bad option in lethal-injection bill
Last updated: November 23. 2014 12:01AM
The Lima News (Ohio)

After Ohio botched its last execution Jan. 17, leaving convicted killer Dennis McGuire gasping and choking for about 20 minutes before succumbing, we would hope our area lawmakers would join the fight for more transparency involving the process of how to carry out death sentences.


Instead, state Reps. Matt Huffman and Jim Buchy’s solution to ensure executions cannot be labeled as “cruel and unusual punishment” is to put the wants of pharmaceutical companies above the public’s right for information. The two are the sponsors of House Bill 663, a piece of misguided legislation that could be rushed into law by year’s end.


The bill stems from the difficulties in getting the right drugs for lethal injections.


State officials have claimed Ohio’s inability to obtain the preferred lethal-injection drug, pentobarbital, was a factor in the problems with McGuire’s execution. The drug was unavailable from European pharmaceutical companies, which refused to continue selling it for executions after being tirelessly harassed by anti-death-penalty protesters.


The alternative, the state has found, is to obtain different drug compounds from small-scale drug manufacturers. However, these so-called compounding pharmacies also are reluctant to make lethal-injection drugs unless they can remain anonymous, again for fear of public reprisal.


The problem with the Huffman-Buchy bill is that as written, its provisions curtail meaningful scrutiny of how the death penalty is implemented. Any records that could lead to the identification of pharmacists, drug companies or physicians involved with the executions would be confidential. In short, there would be no accountability should something go wrong.


As many people who testified during the House hearings pointed out in detail, the bill also remains problematic on multiple levels and may have significant Constitutional problems that go beyond the concerns we have about shielding the execution process in greater secrecy.


The bill deserves more thoughtful consideration outside a fast-moving, lame-duck legislative session. It was proposed just weeks ago and pushed through the House on Friday. It’s now in the hands of another local legislator, Senate President Keith Faber, who will decide if the Senate will debate the measure before adjourning for the year in early December. If the Senate fails to take up the bill, it would then die and have to be reintroduced next year.


The power of the state to carry out the death penalty must be exercised in the open. Transparency is necessary to ensure public oversight of a punishment that is unique in its finality.


As Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman told the Associated Press, “If the only way we can preserve this method of execution is by making it more secret, that, to me, is something of a sign that we shouldn’t be trying to preserve this method of execution.”



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Stefanie Faucher
Communications Director
8th Amendment Project
sfau...@8thamendment.org
Mobile 510.393.4549
8thamendment.org