Ohio has executed a second convicted killer with a three-drug mixture that was first tried in July. But the condemned inmate’s lawyer says there may have been a problem this time.
45 year old Gary Otte of Indiana died at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville about 31 minutes after his execution began. Jim Province of the Toledo Blade has witnessed executions before, including a problematic one in 2006. Province says Otte apologized for his crimes, sang a hymn, and then didn’t move after the drugs took effect.
“I saw no problems. From the time he stopped breathing, which would have been when the second drug took effect, there was no movement on his part whatsoever. But one of his attorneys had the opinion that he was not sufficiently under enough not to experience pain from the second two drugs. So she tried to get a hold of a judge after the process had started, without success.”
Otte’s attorney Carol Wright says she believes Otte was suffering from respiratory distress. Otte’s family and relatives of his two victims were among the witnesses but did not speak.
