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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The state’s new lethal-injection plan is so untested that it would amount to human experimentation if used for the first time next month, an attorney for a condemned inmate said in a Friday court filing.
There is no reason for federal courts to allow the scheduled Dec. 8 execution of Kenneth Biros given the lack of details in the proposed system, which replaces a fatal three-drug cocktail with a single powerful dose of anesthetic, attorney Tim Sweeney said.
Ohio also has proposed a two-drug muscle injection as a backup, but Sweeney said in a filing with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that there’s no evidence of the backup’s reliability.
“There is nothing in the record on which this Court can make any legitimate determination as to whether the ‘back-up’ they have selected is as or more constitutionally problematic than a gunshot to the head,” Sweeney wrote.
The proposal “is human experimentation, pure and simple,” Sweeney said.
Biros initially sued claiming Ohio’s three-drug injection process could cause severe pain, in violation of the Constitution. But after the state last week replaced that system with a single dose of anesthetic, the 6th Circuit said the new approach renders Biros’ lawsuit moot.
Sweeney’s filing Friday was in response to a deadline set by the court, which wants to know why the suit shouldn’t be dismissed.
