Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s decision after a botched execution attempt to delay two executions and review the way Ohio has executed 32 prisoners since 1999 could influence the way condemned prisoners elsewhere are put to death, the Washington Post reports. “Everything’s on the table at this point,” said Julie Walburn of the Ohio corrections department.
“Other states will be watching,” said Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment. Dieter said that several states, including Maryland, are working on lethal injection protocols. “Waiting an hour or two hours for this to end, that just doesn’t seem right.” The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 in 2008 that injecting condemned Kentucky prisoners with the typical sequence of three drugs does not meet the Eighth Amendment threshold of cruel and unusual punishment.