Another messy execution in Ohio

As detailed in this AP report, Ohio once again had trouble with a lethal injection execution today.  Here are basic details and reactions:

A man executed Thursday for killing a cellmate chatted and laughed with prison staff as they struggled to find veins in his arm to deliver the deadly chemicals, taking so long that at one point he was given a bathroom break. 

Christopher Newton, who had insisted on the death penalty as punishment for choking and beating the cellmate after arguing over a chess game, died at 11:53 a.m., nearly two hours after the scheduled start of his execution.  The execution team stuck him at least 10 times with needles to get in place the shunts where chemicals are injected…. 

Prison officials said the difficulty prison staff had finding Newton’s veins resulted from the girth of the 265-pound, 6-foot inmate. Newton told a public defender it was hard for blood to be taken from his veins because of his weight.  Fifty-three minutes into the process, prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean flashed a note to reporters: “We have told the team to take their time. His size is creating a problem.”

Gov. Ted Strickland said every precaution was taken to make sure Newton was treated respectfully and was not in pain.  “The procedure worked as it was intended to work,” Strickland said.  “If someone is against the death penalty then I can understand why they would want me to have a moratorium on the death penalty, but I think what happened today is not any supporting justification for that.”

Of course, Ohio Death Penalty Information is THE place to go for copious coverage of this story, and ODPI has spotted this ACLU press release calling for an immediate halt to executions in Ohio as a result of today’s troubles.

UPDATE: ODPI has all the morning press coverage of the Newton execution collected here.