Ohio Executions To Resume

Today, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay issued by the district court on October 19, 2009, in Richard Cooey,II, Kenneth Biros v. Ted Strickland, et al., Case No. 09-4300, reinstating Biros's December 8, 2009, execution date. The Circuit Court found that Ohio’s change to a one-drug protocol, effective November 30, 2009, mooted his challenge to Ohio’s previous three-drug execution protocol. The Court went on to say that the key changes to the protocol grew out of, and in direct response to, the underlying litigation which Biros took part in.