FILE-This undated file photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction shows Dennis McGuire. A federal appeals court has rejected arguments by McGuire, a condemned Ohio killer facing a never-tried execution method that he received poor legal assistance before sentencing. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati turned down the latest appeal Monday, Dec. 30, 2013 by McGuire, who faces execution Jan. 16 for the 1989 rape and fatal stabbing of Joy Stewart, who was pregnant at the time. (AP Photo/Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, File)
December 31, 2013 - 12:26 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio says it will use a never-tried injected dose of two drugs to put to death an inmate who raped and killed a pregnant woman.
The approach has never been used in a U.S. execution.
The decision obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday means the state prisons agency was unable to obtain an unregulated batch of pentobarbital. That's the drug Ohio used until its manufacturer put it off limits for executions.
The state says it will instead use a combination of the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone in the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire.
Those drugs are included in Ohio's untested backup execution method. The method requires them to be injected directly into an inmate's muscle.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013