Ohio man first to be executed with controversial drug

WASHINGTON—A 37-year-old man convicted of murder in Ohio on Thursday became the first person in the United States to be executed with a single dose of an animal tranquilizer, officials said.

Johnnie Baston, convicted in the 1994 killing of a Korean grocery store manager, was pronounced dead at 10:30 am (1530 GMT) after the lethal injection, the Ohio corrections department said.

Baston was the first US death row inmate to be executed with a single dose of pentobarbital, an animal tranquilizer that is normally used in combination with other drugs.

Ohio, which uses a single drug for lethal injections, switched from thiopental which has become scarce since the drug’s sole producer in the United States, Hospira, announced it was ending production.

Baston was the second inmate executed in the midwestern state this year and the ninth in the United States.

Ohio and Washington are the only US states that execute prisoners with a single, powerful dose of anaesthetic.

Ohio went to single drug injections a little over a year ago after a botched procedure in September 15, 2009 in which the inmate survived.

Some experts and death penalty advocates have expressed concern over the use of the animal tranquilizer.