Ohio will delay executions until drugs can be secured for a new lethal-injection protocol, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Gov. John Kasich will likely postpone the executions of Ronald Phillips, 41, schedule for Feb. 11, and Raymond Tibbetts, 57, scheduled for March 12. Another execution is scheduled for May 14. Ohio will add thiopental sodium, a drug used previously, and drop the two-drug regimen of midazolam and hydromorphone, which caused problems in the last execution a year ago.
Until the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction can get supplies of pentobarbital, a drug already permitted, or thiopental sodium, executions will be postponed. The next two executions are scheduled to take place before a new lethal-injection law being challenged by death row inmates in court takes effect in late March. The law allows the state to buy drugs from small compounding pharmacies, which mix batches of drugs to customer specifications. It also permits the state to keep secret the identities of drug suppliers because of concerns for their security.