Ohio inmate becomes first to die under 1-drug method
Published 9:48 am Tuesday, December 8, 2009
LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Ohio has executed a killer through the first U.S. lethal injection using a single drug, a longer but supposedly less painful method than previous executions that required three drugs.
Kenneth Biros was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m. EST today, about 43 minutes after he entered the death house at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
Ohio changed from three drugs to a one-drug method after a failed attempt at putting a different inmate to death in September. The new method uses a drug common for euthanizing pets.
Other states still use a combination of three drugs.
Biros was sentenced to die for killing a woman in 1991.
The execution occurred after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Biros’ request for a stay of execution.
Biros had argued the state’s new method would be painful. The state’s switch to one drug was meant to end a lawsuit that claims the three-drug system could cause severe pain, and experts have agreed that the single anesthetic will not cause pain.
