Ohio executes Johnnie Baston

Johnnie Baston

LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Ohio has put to death the killer of a Toledo store owner with the country's first-ever use of pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug.

Baston was pronounced dead at 10:30 a.m. by warden Donald Morgan at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Baston died by a lethal dose of the surgical sedative pentobarbital, the first standalone use of the drug to execute someone in the U.S.

Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesman Carlo LoParo says Baston confessed to his crime in a lie detector test last week.

The 37-year-old Baston was sentenced to die for killing Chong-Hoon Mah, a South Korean immigrant who was shot in the back of the head.

Baston's attorney says his client instructed him not to comment on the issue.

Batson becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Ohio and the 43rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

Batson becomes the 9th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1243rd overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Source: AP, Rick Halperin, March 10, 2011

U.S.: First execution of death row prisoner with single injection of drug used for putting down pets

Holding cell adjacent to
Lucasville's execution chamber

A killer was to be put to death today with a single injection of the sedative pentobarbital - the first time the drug has been used in a U.S. execution.

Johnnie Baston, 37, was scheduled to be executed this morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, for the 1994 murder of a store owner.

Pentobarbital is normally used to put down pets and other animals.

In the past, Ohio has had problems inserting needles into prisoners, including the 2009 execution of Romell Broom, who was sentenced to die for the rape and murder of a teenage girl.

The governor stopped the procedure after two hours. Broom complained that he was stuck with needles at least 18 times and suffered intense pain.

He has sued, arguing a second attempt to put him to death would be unconstitutionally cruel.

Now Baston's execution is expected to give inmates speedier access to attorneys in case something goes wrong when needles are being inserted and make the process more open.

An attorney concerned about how an execution is going could use a death house phone to contact a fellow lawyer who in turn could alert officials, said a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

But the inmate will have to give up one of his three personal witnesses -usually a family member - to have the lawyer present.

Judges will have the final say on problems, which will limit abuse of the system.

Although the prisoner will now be just a few feet from witnesses as the needles are inserted, a curtain will be drawn and the procedure will still be shown on closed-circuit television.

Using CCTV is meant to protect the anonymity of the executioners and to reduce the pressure they might feel having an audience watching them work.

Even before the change, Ohio had one of the most transparent execution procedures in the country.

Several states, such as Missouri, Texas and Virginia, show nothing of the insertion procedure and allow witnesses to watch only as the lethal chemicals begin to flow.

Oklahoma also uses pentobarbital, a barbiturate, but in combination with other drugs that paralyze inmates and stop their hearts.

Ohio switched to pentobarbital after the company that made the drug it previously used, sodium thiopental, announced production was being discontinued.

Baston was sentenced to die for killing 53-year-old Chong-Hoon Mah, a South Korean immigrant who set up two business in Toledo. He will become the ninth prisoner to be executed this year.

Republican Governor John Kasich last week rejected Baston's plea for mercy based on the victim's family's opposition to capital punishment.

Source: Daily Mail, March 10, 2011

Ohio has success with new death penalty drug

Ohio appears ready to continue an execution rate of about 1 per month following a successful procedure putting to death a killer with a single dose of pentobarbital, a drug never before used by itself in an execution.

37-year-old Johnnie Baston briefly gasped and appeared to grimace during Thursday’s execution at the Southern Correctional Facility in Lucasville, but the moment passed quickly and he lay still for most of the 13-minute process.

Ohio has an execution a month scheduled for the next 12 months with the exception of December, including an April 12 date for Clarence Carter, sentenced to die for beating to death a fellow Hamilton County Jail inmate in 1998.

Baston was sentenced to die for the 1994 shooting of 53-year-old Chong Mah, a downtown Toledo shopkeeper.

Source: Associated Press, March 11, 2011
_________________________

Use the tags below or the search engine at the top of this page to find updates, older or related articles on this Website.

Comments

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog