Botched Execution Takes 2 Hours

Condemned killer took bathroom break during lethal injection
By Greg Atwan,  Newser Staff
Posted May 26, 2007 7:14 PM CDT
Botched Execution Takes 2 Hours
'   (Associated Press)

Prison staff at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility spent two hours administering lethal injection to condemned killer Christopher Newton—inserting needles ten times before finding a suitable vein to inject the deadly chemicals. Newton had been sentenced to die for killing his cellmate during an argument after a chess game.

Officials blamed Newton's 265-pound frame for the dilatory execution, which took so long guards paused to allow Newton a bathroom break. Ohio bungled an execution last May— taking ninety minutes—and now a group of inmates is suing over the state's methods. "The state doesn't know how to execute people without torturing them to death," said an ACLU attorney. (More death penalty stories.)

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