40-year-old Ronald Phillips was convicted of beating, raping and killing Sheila Marie Evans, the three-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, in Summit County in 1993.
Federal judge Gregory Frost has denied the request to stop the execution of Phillips, whose attorneys had argued -- along with testimony from Phillips himself, via video -- that the new two-drug cocktail that’s never been used anywhere before is unconstitutional.
And Gov. John Kasich has denied clemency for Phillips, agreeing with the unanimous recommendation of the parole board.
The state is using these two drugs after finishing up the last of its supply of pentobarbital in the execution of Harry Mitts Jr. in September. Ohio became the first state to execute condemned killers with a single, powerful dose of a drug in 2009, and then again in 2011.
