Supreme Court Allows For Ohio Man To Be Executed By Untested Method

Dennis McGuire's attorneys claim he could suffer from air hunger

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A condemned Ohio killer was preparing for his execution by a never-tried lethal injection method adopted after supplies of the state's previous drug dried up.

Death row inmate Dennis McGuire would become the first prisoner put to death in the U.S. by the two-drug combination if his execution proceeded Thursday.

Ohio officials planned to use intravenous doses of two drugs, the sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone, to put McGuire to death. The method has been part of Ohio's execution process since 2009, though never used in this country.