Judge: Ohio’s Execution Procedure Haphazard

Federal District Judge Gregory L. Frost ruled, in staying an Ohio execution, that, "Ohio pays lip service to standards it then often ignores without valid reasons, sometimes with no physical ramifications and sometimes with what have been described as messy if not botched executions,” reported the Columbus Dispatch.

Kenneth Smith was scheduled to be executed on July 19 for the killings of a husband and wife in their Hamilton, Ohio, home during a 1995 robbery. His lawyers argued, "when administering the ultimate punishment to an individual as a consequence for breaking society's laws, the State (Ohio) be required to follow the law as well.”

According to the Dispatch, Judge Frost called four areas in which the state strayed from its policies an embarrassment and creating what he called "haphazard application" of its death-penalty protocols. Smith’s execution has been postponed.

Some think the decision could have national implications if Smith’s case proceeds to trial.

To read more: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/07/09/judge-delays-execution-rips-haphazard-process.html