An Ohio inmate facing execution this week says his tolerance to a lethal injection drug could lead to a painful execution that would deprive him of his constitutional rights.Michael Beuke, 48, scheduled to die Thursday for fatally shooting a man while hitchhiking in 1983, made his claim in a court filing Friday.
Beuke asked U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost to stop the execution because it could deny him the quick and painless death promised by Ohio law and could constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution.
Beuke said a barbiturate he takes for a seizure disorder could limit the effectiveness of midazolam, the 1st drug called for in Ohio's backup execution method.
It's a twist on a similar argument made last month by another Ohio Death Row inmate who said he had an allergy to anesthesia. The federal courts rejected Darryl Durr's claim, and he was executed April 20.
Source: AP, May 10, 2010
Condemned inmate's claim lacks merit, Ohio says
Michael Beuke is scheduled to die Thursday
The state is urging a federal judge to reject a claim by a condemned Ohio inmate that his tolerance to a lethal injection drug could lead to a painful execution.
The Ohio attorney general's office argued in court papers filed Monday that Michael Beuke, scheduled to die Thursday, has waited too long to raise the issue.
The state also says Beuke hasn't shown he can succeed with his argument, based on courts' previous rulings related to Ohio's lethal injection process.
Beuke says a barbiturate he takes for a seizure disorder could interfere with a drug used in Ohio's backup execution method that injects drugs into muscles.
The 48-year-old Beuke was sentenced to die for the 1983 murder of a driver he shot while hitchhiking in southwest Ohio.
Source: Associated Press, May 11, 2010
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