By Andrew Welsh-Huggins
AP Legal Affairs Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio plans to come up with a new process for executing condemned inmates no later than Oct. 4 as the supply of its current drug is ready to expire, according to a court filing.
The new process, which is not spelled out in the filing, will apply to the November execution of Ronald Phillips, sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993, according to the order filed Monday by federal judge Gregory Frost.
Frost’s order, reviewed by The Associated Press, notes that the process won’t be in place for next month’s execution of Harry Mitts. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction raised the Oct. 4 date in a recent telephone conference with the judge, according to the order.
The state did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said a statement was forthcoming.
The change in the execution process is necessary because supplies of the sedative pentobarbital, the drug Ohio uses for executions, have been put off limits by its manufacturer, and the state’s remaining supplies expire at the end of September.
One option floated by Ohio authorities is obtaining the drug from compounding pharmacies, which are licensed to create small batches of drugs for specific clients.
This would be the third time the state has changed its protocol because of difficulty finding an execution drug. Manufacturers also restricted distribution of sodium thiopental, the drug used before pentobarbital.