Ohio has executed a man who beat a fellow jail inmate to death after the two argued over what to watch on television. 49-year-old Clarence Carter died for beating 33-year-old Johnny Allen Junior to death in 1988 – Carter was in prison waiting to be sentenced for aggravated murder. Alan Johnson is a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch who’s witnessed more than a dozen executions, and he described this one as “quick and efficient”.
"Within two or three minutes, Mr. Carter stopped breathing, closed his eyes," Johnson said. "Clearly the chemical they're using (which is pentobarbital) is very effective as a death chemical because he stopped breathing very quickly."
Johnson says Carter apologized to his victim’s family, though they were not at the Lucasville prison to witness the execution, and he thanked his brother for being there. This is the second time the state has used the surgical sedative pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug, and Ohio is the only state using that drug by itself – other states use it as part of their lethal injection cocktail.