execution of Dennis McGuire

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Dennis McGuire

| image = Dennis_McGuire.jpg

| birth_name = Dennis B. McGuire

| birth_date = {{birth date|1960|2|10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/Executed/executed25.htm|title=Ohio Executions - 1999 to Present|publisher=Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction|access-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117073753/http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/Executed/executed25.htm|archive-date=January 17, 2014}}

| birth_place = Warren County, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|1|16|1960|2|10}}

| death_place = Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Lucasville, Ohio, U.S.

| death_cause = Botched execution by lethal injection

| conviction_penalty = Death (December 8, 1994)

| conviction = Aggravated murder
Rape
Kidnapping

| victims = Joy Stewart, 22

| date = February 11, 1989

| weapon = Knife

}}

The execution of Dennis McGuire occurred on January 16, 2014, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, in what was considered to be a botched execution.{{cite news|last=Strauss|first=Gary|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ohio killer's slow execution raises controversy|work=USA Today|url=https://usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/16/ohio-killer-executed-with-new-lethal-drug-combo/4512651/|access-date=June 14, 2021}} McGuire was executed via lethal injection using a new combination of untried and untested drugs: midazolam and hydromorphone. During the execution, witnesses reported that McGuire could be seen struggling to breathe, and reportedly gasped loudly while making snorting and choking sounds for at least ten minutes. It took over twenty-five minutes for McGuire to die, in a process that should normally take just over eight minutes.{{cite news|last=Memmott|first=Mark|date=January 16, 2014|title=New Drug Combination Takes 24 Minutes To Execute Ohio Killer|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/01/16/263099489/new-drug-combination-takes-24-minutes-to-execute-ohio-killer|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

The execution led to an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio for over three years. McGuire's family filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state and an Illinois drug company. The lawsuit was later dropped by the family after the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced it would abandon the execution method it had used on McGuire. The state did not carry out another execution until July 2017.{{cite news|last=Walker|first=Tim|date=January 17, 2014|title='People should be ashamed': Family speaks out on Ohio's 25-minute 'experimental' execution for convicted murderer and rapist|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/people-should-be-ashamed-family-speaks-out-ohio-s-25-minute-experimental-execution-convicted-murderer-and-rapist-9068569.html|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

Background

Dennis B. McGuire (February 10, 1960 – January 16, 2014){{cite web|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/mcguire1362.htm|title=Dennis B. McGuire #1362|work=Clark County Prosecutor|access-date=June 13, 2021}} was sentenced to death on December 8, 1994, for the 1989 rape and murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart in West Alexandria, Ohio. Stewart disappeared on February 11, 1989, and her body was found by two hikers the following day in the woods near Bantas Creek. An autopsy was performed, and it was determined she had died from having her throat cut by a knife, which had severed her carotid artery and jugular vein. No leads came in for the case until December 1989, when McGuire, who was in prison for an unrelated crime, spoke with police, and told them that his brother-in-law had murdered Stewart.{{cite web|title=State v. McGuire|work=Casetext|url=https://casetext.com/case/state-v-mcguire-22|date=December 10, 1997|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

McGuire knew details about the crime that had not been made public, making investigators take his allegation seriously. However, as new details emerged, it became apparent that McGuire had been the actual perpetrator. DNA testing carried out in 1992 proved that McGuire had raped and murdered Stewart. On December 22, 1993, McGuire was charged with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of rape, and one count of kidnapping. On December 8, 1994, McGuire was found guilty of all charges, and the jury recommended a death sentence.{{cite news|last=Sweigart|first=Josh|date=January 16, 2014|title=Killer who tried to beat system set to die|work=Dayton Daily News|url=https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/killer-who-tried-beat-system-set-die/aerZQ8b4hCcQBNPiA2yCDO/|access-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614172240/https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/killer-who-tried-beat-system-set-die/aerZQ8b4hCcQBNPiA2yCDO/|archive-date=June 14, 2021}}

Execution

McGuire spent over nineteen years on death row until his execution date, which was scheduled for January 16, 2014. In September 2013, the state of Ohio ran out of the drug pentobarbital. The drug, originally manufactured in Denmark, was subject to strict export licenses that prevented it being sold to departments of correction within the United States. European-based manufacturers banned prisons in the United States from using their drugs in executions. Because of this, the state of Ohio was forced to use a new combination of drugs to execute McGuire.{{cite news|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ohio executes inmate using untried, untested lethal injection method|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/ohio-executes-inmate-untried-untested-lethal-injection-method|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

The state decided on a combination of the drugs midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, an opioid painkiller.{{cite news|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ohio killer executed by new method, took 15 minutes to die|work=CBS News|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-killer-executed-by-new-method-took-15-minutes-to-die/|access-date=June 14, 2021}} The combination had never been tried or tested before. McGuire's lawyers had warned ahead of the proceeding that the new combination of drugs may subject McGuire to air hunger, which would cause him to suffocate to death.{{cite news|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ohio man Dennis McGuire is executed using new drug|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25764678|access-date=June 14, 2021}} In court proceedings, an Ohio state prosecutor bluntly stated that McGuire was not [necessarily and automatically] entitled to a painless execution, and a judge allowed the execution to proceed.

At 10:27 a.m. on the morning of January 16, 2014, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, McGuire was injected with both drugs after he gave a final statement.{{cite web|date=January 16, 2014|title=McGuire Timeline|work=Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction|url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1006345-mcguire-timeline.html|access-date=June 14, 2021}} According to a witness at the execution, four minutes into the procedure, McGuire could be seen struggling and gasping loudly for air.{{cite news|last1=Ford|first1=Dana|last2=Fantz|first2=Ashley|date=January 17, 2014|title=Controversial execution in Ohio uses new drug combination|work=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/16/justice/ohio-dennis-mcguire-execution/index.html|access-date=June 14, 2021}} He made snorting and choking sounds, which lasted for at least ten to fifteen minutes.{{cite news|last=Hummer|first=Lawrence|date=January 22, 2014|title=I witnessed Ohio's execution of Dennis McGuire. What I saw was inhumane|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/ohio-mcguire-execution-untested-lethal-injection-inhumane|access-date=June 14, 2021}} At 10:53 a.m., McGuire was pronounced dead.{{cite news|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ohio Executes Killer Using Untested Drug Cocktail 'Experiment'|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-executes-killer-using-untested-drug-cocktail-experiment-n10661|access-date=June 14, 2021}} The execution took over twenty-six minutes, in a process that should have normally taken around eight.{{cite news|last=Ehrenfreund|first=Max|date=January 16, 2014|title=Dennis McGuire executed in Ohio with new combination of lethal drugs|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/dennis-mcguire-executed-in-ohio-with-new-combination-of-lethal-drugs/2014/01/16/612e22a2-7ede-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html|access-date=June 14, 2021}} It was the longest execution ever recorded in Ohio.{{cite news|date=October 3, 2016|title=Ronald Phillips execution: Ohio plans January death using 3-drug combo after 3-year pause|work=CBS News|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ronald-phillips-execution-ohio-january-3-drug-combo/|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

During the execution his stomach allegedly swelled up in an unusual way similar to a hernia. Witnesses also stated that he clenched his fists, struggled and gasped audibly for air.{{Cite news |last=Hummer |first=Lawrence |date=2014-01-22 |title=I witnessed Ohio's execution of Dennis McGuire. What I saw was inhumane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/22/ohio-mcguire-execution-untested-lethal-injection-inhumane |access-date=2024-09-28 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

His last meal was roast beef, fried chicken, a bagel with cream cheese, fried potatoes with onions, potato salad, butter pecan ice cream, and a Coke.{{cite news|last=Sweigart|first=Josh|date=January 15, 2014|title=Local killer orders roast beef, fried chicken for last meal before execution|work=Dayton Daily News|url=https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/local-killer-orders-roast-beef-fried-chicken-for-last-meal-before-execution/PYeAKsxBrvEFwgBq6zinGP/|access-date=June 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412203828/https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime--law/local-killer-orders-roast-beef-fried-chicken-for-last-meal-before-execution/PYeAKsxBrvEFwgBq6zinGP/|archive-date=April 12, 2019}}

Aftermath

Following the execution, McGuire's family planned to sue the state of Ohio for inflicting cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the US constitution. A professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School told an Ohio court that using midazolam was inappropriate in an execution, and that the state ran the risk of McGuire being conscious for up to five minutes while suffocating. The human rights group Reprieve also released a statement in response, saying they were shocked that the state had gone ahead with the execution, despite the warnings from experts.{{cite news|last1=Pilkington|first1=Ed|last2=Francome|first2=Will|date=January 17, 2014|title=Family of man executed in Ohio using untested procedure plans to file lawsuit|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/dennis-mcguire-ohio-execution-untested-method-lawsuit|access-date=June 14, 2021}}

All pending executions in Ohio were put on hold, and an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio was declared by Governor John Kasich.{{cite news|date=October 19, 2015|title=Ohio delays executions until 2017 over lack of lethal drugs|work=CBS News|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-delays-executions-until-2017-over-lack-of-lethal-drugs/|access-date=June 14, 2021}} The state then tried to find compounded or specially mixed versions of lethal drugs, but was unsuccessful. Kasich later signed a bill into law that shielded the names of companies that provide the state of Ohio with lethal injection drugs.

Over a year later, McGuire's family dropped its civil rights lawsuit against the state after the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced it would abandon the execution method it had used on McGuire in favor of alternative anesthetics. The decision satisfied McGuire's family.{{cite news|date=February 3, 2015|title=Family of Ohio man who snorted and gasped during execution drops lawsuit|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/03/family-ohio-man-snorted-gasped-execution-drops-lawsuit|access-date=June 14, 2021}} Kasich ruled out looking for alternative execution methods, such as hanging or firing squad.

It took over three years before Ohio planned to resume executions with a new, three-drug combination: midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. In July 2017, convicted murderer Ronald Philips was the next person to be executed after McGuire, using the new three-drug combination.{{cite news|last=Connor|first=Tracy|date=July 26, 2017|title=Ronald Phillips Executed in Ohio, Ending Three-Year Break|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lethal-injection/ronald-phillips-executed-ohio-ending-three-year-break-n786676|access-date=June 14, 2021}}