Stefanie Faucher
Associated Press - 4 Ohio inmates challenge lethal injection drug law
Northeast Ohio Media Group - Death-row inmates challenge new execution-secrecy rules
Columbus Dispatch - Death Row inmates sue state over lethal injection secrecy law
Toledo Blade - Suit challenges Ohio law shielding execution drug makers
Ohio Public Radio - Lawsuit Filed Over Ohio Law Shielding Execution Drug Makers
WHIO-TV (CBS, Dayton) - Ohio’s new executions law challenged
JURIST - Death row inmates challenge Ohio execution secrecy law
----
4 Ohio inmates challenge lethal injection drug law
By ANN SANNER and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, December 25, 2014
COLUMBUS – Four death row inmates are suing Ohio officials over a new state law that shields the names of companies that provide lethal injection drugs.
Attorneys for the inmates claim in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the law violates their free speech rights by concealing the identities of those to whom they would like to direct their messages about the death penalty. They also contend it restricts information that helps inform the public debate over capital punishment.
The new restrictions cleared the Legislature last week, and Gov. John Kasich signed the law Friday. They take effect in March.
Supporters of the policy say shielding the names of companies that provide lethal injection drugs is necessary to obtain supplies by protecting the drugmakers from harassment. They argue the measure is needed to restart executions in Ohio, which were put on hold because of questions raised by the January execution of Dennis McGuire, who gasped and snorted for 26 minutes before he was declared dead.
The law also keeps confidential the names of participants in Ohio executions. The anonymity for companies — which would last 20 years — is aimed at compounding pharmacies that mix doses of specialty drugs.
Inmates Ronald Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, Robert Van Hook and Grady Brinkley claim in their lawsuit that the policy will silence one side of the debate over executions.
"Everyone should be deeply troubled by this bold piece of legislation which has been passed to artificially reduce public criticism of government actions in one of the most important areas in which it acts: the taking of a human life," said Cleveland attorney Timothy Sweeney, who represents Phillips.
Phillips, 41, is condemned to die for raping and killing the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend in Akron in 1993. His execution is scheduled for Feb. 11.
A prosecutor has said he expected lawsuits over the policy, making it impossible to carry out Phillips' execution as planned.
The inmates filed their lawsuit in federal court in Columbus against Ohio's governor, attorney general and prisons director. It doesn't challenge the inmates' convictions, death sentences or Ohio's lethal injection process.
Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said the office doesn't comment on litigation. Attorney General Mike DeWine's office said Wednesday it was reviewing the lawsuit.
Tibbetts is scheduled to die March 12 for the 1997 fatal stabbing of Fred Hicks in Cincinnati. Van Hook's execution is planned for Nov. 17, 2015, and Brinkley does not yet have an execution date.
The lawsuit comes as a federal judge ruled that challenges of changes to Ohio's execution policy and the state's defense of those changes must be filed faster than normal ahead of the February execution.
Defense attorneys had asked Judge Gregory Frost for the quick turnaround out of concern the adoption of new execution rules wouldn't leave them enough time to file challenges.
The state prisons agency must submit updated rules no later than one month before an execution. In that case, normal deadlines for filing objections and asking for evidence — usually 30 days — wouldn't leave enough time before the execution is carried out, defense attorneys said in a filing last week. Frost agreed and on Tuesday ordered the fast filing.
----
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2014/12/death-row_inmates_challenge_ne.html
Death-row inmates challenge new execution-secrecy rules
By Jeremy Pelzer, December 24, 2014
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Four death-row inmates are challenging the constitutionality of Ohio's new execution secrecy rules, their attorney announced Wednesday morning.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus, the inmates claim the new law, which shields the identities of most participants in Ohio's execution process, violates their rights to free speech and due process.
Proponents of the rules, signed into law by Gov. John Kasich last week, say they are needed to protect individuals involved with Ohio executions from harassment and potential harm.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday afternoon on behalf of death-row inmates Ronald Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, Robert Van Hook and Grady Brinkley. The first three are scheduled to be executed next year; Brinkley's execution date has not yet been set.
Under the new law, House Bill 663, Ohio must keep secret the names of people involved with executions, other than top officials. The law also protects the identity of small-scale drug manufacturers called compounding pharmacies if they make lethal-injection drugs for the state.
The inmates' lawsuit claims these measures violate the First Amendment because they were passed to silence death-penalty critics and "foreclose all effective advocacy" against executions in Ohio.
The lawsuit also challenges other parts of the law that require courts to seal such information from the public and prevents the state's medical board from disciplining physicians who testify about Ohio's execution method.
"These laws violate some of the most basic principles upon which our democracy was founded," said Timothy Sweeney, the inmates' attorney, in a statement. "Everyone should be deeply troubled by this bold piece of legislation which has been passed to artificially reduce public criticism of government actions in one of the most important areas in which it acts: the taking of a human life."
The defendants in the lawsuit are Kasich, Attorney General Mike DeWine, state prisons director Gary Mohr and Donald Morgan, warden of Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where Ohio's executions are carried out.
DeWine spokeswoman Lisa Hackley said Wednesday that the attorney general's office is reviewing the lawsuit. Spokesmen for the governor's office and the state's prisons agency declined comment.
HB 663 is an attempt to overcome problems that Ohio – like many other states – has had obtaining lethal-injection drugs in recent years.
Ohio ran out of its preferred lethal-injection drug, pentobarbital, last year because European pharmaceutical companies refused to continue selling it for use in executions.
The state has instead turned to a two-drug cocktail of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a morphine derivative. But executions in Ohio and Arizona using the cocktail haven't gone as planned, and Ohio's use of the drugs is being challenged in federal court.
Supporters of HB 663 say that the state could turn to compounding pharmacies to make pentobarbital, but the companies are reluctant to make lethal-injection drugs unless they can remain anonymous, for fear of public reprisal.
DeWine and other proponents of the legislation have said the changes are needed if Ohio is to resume executions next February, once a court-ordered moratorium ends.
Lawsuits have been filed against similar confidentiality rules in other states.
Here's the full lawsuit:
----
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/12/24/death-row-inmates-sue-state.html
Death Row inmates sue state over lethal injection secrecy law
By Randy Ludlow, December 25, 2014
A state law shrouding Ohio’s execution process in secrecy illegally muzzles public debate and inquiry into whether lethal injection is appropriate, four Death Row inmates charge in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Columbus claims that House Bill 663 signed on Friday by Gov. John Kasich illegally deprives both the Death Row inmates and the public of their right of access to government proceedings.
Prison officials insist executions in Ohio cannot proceed unless the state promises secrecy to compounding pharmacies that could face possible protests and retaliation for providing the lethal drugs.
The law illegally stifles “informed” public debate about capital punishment, the lawsuit states. “The state is seeking to punish, disarm, suppress and silence that viewpoint because it is opposed to its preferred viewpoint,” it says.
“Everyone should be deeply troubled by this bold piece of legislation which has been passed to artificially reduce public criticism of government actions in one of the most important areas in which it acts — the taking of a human life,” said Cleveland lawyer Timothy F. Sweeny, who represents Ronald Phillips.
Phillips is the next man scheduled to die by lethal injection, on Feb. 11. Other Death Row inmates also named as plaintiffs in the suit are Raymond Tibbetts and Robert Van Hook, both of whom are scheduled to die next year. The remaining inmate is Grady Brinkley, whose execution date has not been set.
Named as defendants in the suit are Kasich, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr and Donald Morgan, warden of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. Spokesmen for all four said that the state does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit challenges four aspects of the new lethal-injection secrecy law, which will not take effect until after Phillips’ scheduled, and often-delayed, execution. Prison officials must win the OK of new procedures and drugs from a federal judge to execute Phillips, 41, who raped and killed a 3-year-old girl in 1993 in Summit County.
The action objects to “compelled secrecy,” disciplinary immunity for physicians and other licensed professionals involved in executions, the sealing of court records and a related system of “private hearings” and sanctions to punish those who disclose information proclaimed secret.
The law permits the public and the condemned to learn what lethal-injection drugs will be used and their quantity, but withholds the identities of the pharmacies preparing the deadly drug cocktails.
The public and those scheduled to die need to know the identities of pharmacies to check on their backgrounds and ensure the state is conducting executions in a safe and humane manner, the lawsuit states. The law violates free-speech rights by forbidding communication with pharmacy owners, it says.
Transparency is vital in the wake of “multiple experimental and horrifically botched executions,” including that of Dennis McGuire, the lawsuit says. He gasped and choked for about 10 minutes on Jan. 16 as he was killed with a never-before-used combination of drugs. McGuire was pronounced dead after 26 minutes.
----
Suit challenges Ohio law shielding execution drug makers
Four death row inmates file lawsuit
By Jim Provance, December 24, 2014
COLUMBUS — The governor’s signature had just enough time to dry before a lawsuit was filed challenging a new law to shield the identity of the makers of Ohio’s execution drugs and others involved in the process.
The federal suit was filed late Tuesday by four death row inmates, including Grady L. Brinkley, who was convicted in the 2000 shooting of his 18-year-old Toledo girlfriend, Shantae Smith.
Other plaintiffs include Ronald Phillips, of Summit County, whose execution is set for Feb. 11; Raymond Tibbetts, of Hamilton County, set to die on March 12, and Robert Van Hook, also of Hamilton County, who has a Nov. 17 execution date. The Ohio Supreme Court has not set a date for Brinkley.
The suit argues that House Bill 663, signed by Gov. John Kasich on Friday, violates the First Amendment rights of the death row inmates by offering at least temporary anonymity to a compounding pharmacy that agrees to manufacture the state’s preferred execution drug and permanent anonymity to most of the rest of the execution team.
The suit names Mr. Kasich as defendant along with Attorney General Mike DeWine, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr, and Southern Ohio Correctional Facility Warden Donald Morgan.
The Southern Ohio prison in Lucasville is where Ohio’s lethal injection chamber is located.
The law’s supporters have argued that is necessary if Ohio is to resume carrying out capital punishment after the problematic execution of Dennis McGuire, of Montgomery County, nearly a year ago.
Ohio couldn’t get its preferred drug, the powerful sedative pentobarbital, because its European commercial manufacturer refused to make it available for executions.
The state fell back on Plan B, overdoses of midazolam, a barbiturate, and hydromorphone, a painkiller. Witnesses described McGuire as struggling against his restraints and making choking sounds for 26 minutes after the drugs began to flow.
Similar problems were experienced in other states using that method.
“…rather than permit public debate about the death penalty to continue its current course, which has become increasingly critical of the government’s actions, Ohio and certain other death penalty states have chosen to cut off the very information fueling that debate,” said Cleveland attorney Timothy F. Sweeney, whose firm filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
“These laws violate some of the most basic principles upon which our democracy was founded,” he said. “Everyone should be deeply troubled by this bold piece of legislation which has been passed to artificially reduce public criticism of government actions in one of the most important areas in which it acts — the taking of a human life.”
In addition to the First Amendment argument and the penalties associated with releasing what is supposed to be sealed information, the suit challenges the law’s intrusion into the medical disciplinary and licensing process as it pertains to those who might be involved in the execution process as well as court access to the information.
Mr. Sweeney called the law “Orwellian.”
Phillips’ Feb. 11 lethal injection would be the first carried out in Ohio since McGuire’s execution, assuming a current federal court moratorium expires as scheduled.
House Bill 663, sponsored by Reps. Matt Huffman (R., Lima) and Jim Buchy (R., Greenville), would allow a compounding pharmacy supplying execution drugs to ask for its identity to be sealed for 20 years after it ceases doing business with the state.
The identities of most of the others on the execution team would be sealed in perpetuity.
The law has a 2-year expiration date, after which a pharmacy entering into an agreement with the state may not be guaranteed such protections. A special legislative committee is to meet in the interim to make recommendations for a new law to replace House Bill 663.
----
http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/lawsuit-filed-over-ohio-law-shielding-execution-drug-makers
Lawsuit Filed Over Ohio Law Shielding Execution Drug Makers
By Jo Ingles, December 25, 2014
The ink was barely dry on the new lethal injection law before attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging it. The suit asks a federal court to stop the new law from being enforced and to keep four men, who are scheduled to be executed in 2015, from being put to death.
The new law shields drug makers, compounding pharmacies and others who are involved with the execution from having that information made public.
But the lawyers for the four death row inmates say this new law denies first amendment rights of the public. And the attorneys say it is unconstitutional.
The bill was passed in the lame-duck session of the Ohio legislature, and backers of the proposal say it’s a way to continue executions in Ohio.
Attorney General Mike DeWine has said lawmakers need to pass the reforms if Ohio is to resume executions next year, when a court ordered moratorium ends.
----
http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/ohios-new-executions-law-challenged/njZjm/
Ohio’s new executions law challenged
By Thomas Gnau, December 24, 2014
Inmate executions were expected to proceed in 2015 after Gov. Kasich’s signing of a bill shielding the identity of pharmaceutical companies that supply the state with lethal drugs.
But on Tuesday, attorneys on behalf of four Ohio death row prisoners filed a complaint in Columbus federal court challenging the new law.
The complaint seeks a declaration that certain provisions of the new state law are unconstitutional.
“Ohio’s new lethal injection secrecy law is Orwellian,” Cleveland attorney Timothy Sweeney said in a statement. “It punishes anyone who shares basic information about the state’s execution process with the chilling threat of costly litigation.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of Ronald Phillips, of Summit County, scheduled for execution on Feb. 11; Raymond Tibbetts, of Hamilton County, set for execution on March 12; Robert Van Hook, also of Hamilton County, who is to be executed Nov. 17; and Grady Brinkley, formerly of Toledo, who has no execution date.
Area inmates on death row include Davel Chinn and Larry Gapen of Montgomery County. There are 138 men on Ohio’s Death Row today. Montgomery, Butler and Clark counties each have five former residents awaiting executions while Greene County has two.
House Bill 663 was drafted in the hope of continuing those executions. The bill has a life of two years before its expiration. If a pharmaceutical supplier agrees to work with the state to provide lethal drugs during those two years, its identity would be protected for 20 years, according to the law.
Physicians and others who participate in the execution process will also have their identities protected.
----
http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/12/death-row-inmates-challenge-ohio-execution-secrecy-law.php
Death row inmates challenge Ohio execution secrecy law
December 25, 2014
[JURIST] Four death row inmates filed a complaint [complaint, PDF] on Wednesday challenging Substitute House Bill 663 [text], a measure providing for the confidentiality of entities involved in the manufacture of drugs for use in capital punishment by lethal injection, and of the persons involved in executing a sentence of capital punishment. Ohio Governor John R. Kasich [official profile] signed the bill into law [press release, PDF] last Friday. The focal point of the complaint is Ohio's use of alternative lethal injection compounds, since European drug manufacturers refuse to sell sodium thiopental and other popular sedatives for use in executions [Guardian report; JURIST report]. With European sedatives unavailable, Ohio and other states have turned to using a cocktail of midazolam, a barbituate, and hydromorphone, a painkiller, for executions [Toledo Blade report]. The drug cocktail was used in the 26-minute long execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire [JURIST report], and on Arizona inmate Joseph Wood, who took nearly two hours to die [Republic report; JURIST report]. Proponents of HB 663 argue that the anonymity of compounding pharmacies is necessary to protect those entities from public reprisal for their part in the production of lethal-injection drugs. Attorneys for the inmates challenging the bill claim that anonymity effectively silences one half of the capital punishment debate, in violation of the free speech protections of the First Amendment [text].
The controversy [JURIST op-ed] surrounding the contents of lethal injection drugs and execution protocol in the US has been a mainstream issue in politics and in courts around the US in 2014, especially after McGuire's botched execution in January. The children of McGuire, a convicted murderer, filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] in January over the method used in McGuire's 26-minute long execution, which they say amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Earlier that month, McGuire's attorneys filed for a stay of execution [JURIST report], claiming that the untried execution method would cause McGuire to experience a suffocation-like syndrome known as air hunger. The court refused to halt the execution [JURIST report], finding that the evidence presented failed to prove a substantial risk of severe pain. The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ordered a temporary moratorium [JURIST report] on executions in Ohio in May to allow attorneys time to complete discovery and other legal preparations pertaining to Ohio's execution protocols. The stay is set to expire in January [Cleveland report].
--