Lawrence Reynolds

Convicted murderer's clemency hearing set

by Steve Wiandt

Reporter

A clemency hearing will take place next month in Columbus for a Cuyahoga Falls man scheduled for execution in October for the 1994 murder of Loretta Foster.

Lawrence R. Reynolds Jr., 43, was convicted in June 1994 for the murder of 82-year-old Loretta Foster, of Cuyahoga Falls, in January of the same year. He was found guilty of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, aggravated burglary, attempted rape and aggravated murder. Sentenced to die on Oct. 8, Reynolds is a prisoner at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

Reynolds was indicted on Jan. 20, 1994 for aggravated murder after police found Foster's body in her house and conducted a homicide investigation.

The Ohio Parole Board will hear scheduled arguments in support of, or in opposition to clemency in a hearing on Sept. 3 in Columbus, according to Julie Walburn of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Prior to the hearing, Walburn said, the Parole Board will interview Reynolds, likely by video conference.

"At the clemency hearing the offender's attorney or representative, [and] his family can present their side of the case in petitioning the Parole Board for clemency, if they so choose," said Walburn. "Then the state and the county that prosecuted the offender and the victim's family has the ability to make a presentation against clemency."

Walburn said on Aug. 13 she does not know if Reynolds' attorney is intending to present a case arguing in favor of clemency. "We do not know at this point," she said, "He has up until a week prior to the hearing date to make that decision." Walburn said the hearing would take place regardless.

Brad Gessner, chief assistant to Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, will testify in opposition to clemency, said Laurie Cramer, director of communications for the prosecutor's office.

He and Kristen Arapp, Walsh's director of Victim Services, have been working with Foster's family, Cramer said.

"My office will be requesting that Mr. Reynolds' sentence of death be carried out," Walsh said. "Ms. Foster was loved by many as a family member and friend. Reynolds' brutal attack and murder of Ms. Foster was a heinous crime that deserves the punishment the court ordered: death."

The public may contact the board to express their views for or against clemency, by e-mailing drc.clemency@odrc.state.oh.us or writing to the board at: Ohio Parole Board, 770 W. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43222.

E-mail: swiandt@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3141

www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/4647849

Man convicted in 1994 murder has clemency hearing

The state parole board will decide in coming days whether to recommend clemency for a Summit County man accused of murdering a Cuyahoga Falls woman more than a decade ago.

The board held a clemency hearing in Columbus Sept. 10 for Lawrence Reynolds Jr., 43, who faces execution in early October for the aggravated murder of Loretta Mae Foster in January 1994.

According to court documents, he beat the 67-year-old neighbor with a tent pole, tied her with a telephone cord and strangled her to death. Reynolds took about $40 in cash and a blank check belonging to the victim; Foster's nude body was later found on the floor of her house.

Reynolds was convicted of murder, kidnapping, burglary and attempted rape and sentenced to death in late 1994. His execution is scheduled for Oct. 8 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.

Reynolds declined to be interviewed by the parole board prior to the clemency hearing.

The state public defender's office, acting on his behalf and seeking a sentence commutation to life in prison without parole, focused on Reynolds' upbringing and resulting abuse of alcohol.

Reynolds grew up in a family of alcoholics and began drinking at the age of 14, said Kathryn Sandford, public defender representing the inmate. Throughout his childhood and into his adult life, there was a lack of family attention and bonding -- as evidenced by the fact that his parents and siblings declined to take part in the hearing, she said.

Dennis Eshbaugh, a psychologist who interviewed Reynolds, confirmed the inmate's alcoholism and impacts of a dysfunctional home life that resulted in longstanding feelings of being unloved or unlovable. Reynolds lacked any kind of life skills and received no guidance from his parents, he said.

"I think in normal families, there is unconditional love," Eshbaugh said, adding later, "Not so for Mr. Reynolds."

Reynolds has taken responsibility for the crime and is sorry for what he did, Sandford said. He has matured since being sent to prison, works in the prison food service area and, along with another death row inmate, makes origami for children, said Public Defender Robert Lowe.

"Prison gives Larry the discipline and structure without alcohol that he was never taught at home," Lowe said. " ... Larry has been a compliant inmate. ... The only reason to execute him now is retribution."

But Brad Gessner, chief assistant prosecutor for Summit County, said Reynolds was well aware of what he was doing the night of the murder, and the death penalty should be carried out.

"The place you are to be safe is your home," he said. "Your family and friends come there to meet you. Eighteen years by herself, Loretta (Foster) was never afraid until the days before her death. And what was she afraid of? Lawrence Reynolds."

Foster was a generous, nurturing woman who babysat for Reynolds and his brother and sister when they were children, Gessner said. She even hired Reynolds weeks prior to her murder to paint her basement floor.

But afterward, Reynolds began stalking Foster, and she complained to her son, sister-in-law and a doctor hours before her death about her neighbor's strange behavior, Gessner said.

"Lawrence Reynolds conned her to get into her home," he said. "He came to her home with a tent post, rope, camouflage pants and camouflage gloves. ... When she let him in the door... he immediately attacked her. Unfortunately, it didn't end there."

He added, "He went there armed. He went there with the intent to kill her."

After the brutal murder, Reynolds went out drinking with his brother and two friends and bragged about killing Foster, even taking the trio back to the victim's home to see for themselves.

"Lawrence Reynolds knew exactly what he was doing," Gessner said. "He planned to go there... he worked to clean up, he went back to retrieve evidence."

Gessner also countered claims about Reynolds' upbringing and home life, saying that his parents tried to help him find employment and move into a place of his own.

"They didn't have the heart to throw him out," he said, adding, "These are parents who put him in rehab."

A large group from Foster's family attended the hearing, urging the parole board to deny clemency. They talked about having nightmares, about a great niece who still can't sleep without the lights on and about a grandmother who gave up on life after the murder.

"Mr. Reynolds took it upon himself to take her life," said Kelly Redfern, great niece of the victim. "Mr. Reynolds also took it upon himself to go out on the town to brag about his actions. In my eyes, Lawrence Reynolds is a cold and heartless man."

"Being here today, to me, is almost senseless," added Dona Papp, another great niece. "I feel that 15 years ago, Larry went through a trial. He had a jury. They found him guilty of his crime. They sentenced him to die. I don't know what has changed. That was 15 years ago, Larry is still guilty, my aunt is still dead."

The board will issue its decision later this week, in the form of a report to Gov. Ted Strickland, who will make the ultimate decision on whether to allow the execution to go forward or grant clemency.
www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/4665998

Ohio condemned killer wants execution delayed

An Ohio man sentenced to die for strangling his 67-year-old neighbor wants his execution delayed because of last week’s botched attempt to put another inmate to death.

Forty-three-year-old Lawrence Reynolds, scheduled to die Oct. 8, says the state’s unsuccessful attempt to execute Romell Broom shows Ohio’s lethal injection procedures are flawed.

Reynolds says 2006 and 2007 executions that took much longer than expected also show a pattern of problems with Ohio executions.

Attorneys for Reynolds say in a filing with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday that he should be allowed to challenge the constitutionality of Ohio’s execution process.

Gov. Ted Strickland stopped Broom’s execution Sept. 15 after two hours after executioners failed to find a usable vein.

www.vindy.com/news/2009/sep/25/ohio-condemned-killer-wants-execution-delayed/?newswatch

Federal court halts Thursday execution of widow's killer

A federal appeals court decision this morning blocking Thursday's execution of Summit County killer Lawrence Reynolds Jr.raised serious questions about Ohio's lethal injection process.

In a 2-1 ruling, a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said Reynolds' execution should not proceed before a federal court considers problems with the botched execution of Romell Broom on Sept. 15. Broom's hearing is Nov. 30.

The court pointed to "serious and troubling difficulties in executing at least three inmates" that raised questions about whether prison officials are "completely adhering to the Ohio lethal injection protocol."

Attorney General Richard Cordray will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court later today, spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth said.

To read more;
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/05/aexecute.html?sid=101

Ohio opposes death delay for neighbor strangler

Ohio is opposing a condemned inmate's request to delay his execution for strangling a 67-year-old.

The state asked U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost Wednesday to deny the request, in which Lawrence Reynolds seeks to have his March 9 execution put on hold while he challenges Ohio's lethal injection procedures.

Reynolds says the state hasn't worked out problems with accessing inmates' veins and that a new backup method that injects lethal drugs into muscles is untried and could cause pain.

The state attorney general's office says federal courts have rejected identical arguments by Ohio death row inmates who have since been executed.

Prosecutors say Reynolds strangled neighbor Loretta Foster in Cuyahoga Falls near Akron in 1994 for money to fuel his alcohol addiction.
www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=12037893

Lawrence Reynolds is scheduled to be executed in 12 days as his attorneys scramble to find a way to stop it.

A ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost denying Reynolds' request for a delay could be seen as a setback, but not a surprise.

"Well, we knew what happened in the Mark Brown case, so we had a good guess as to what was going to happen," said Lowe.

Reynolds and Brown both claimed the state's lethal injection process needs more scrutiny. Brown's motion was also denied, and he was executed earlier this month.

Lowe says Reynolds is not waging any arguments that suggest he's innocent of strangling Loretta Foster, 67, of Cuyahoga Falls in 1994.

LISTEN to Lowe explain why it's important to exhaust legal options

"He still has his clemency request in front of the governor, pending," said Lowe.

Governor Strickland granted a reprieve to Reynolds and others last year as the state took time to consider an alternate method of lethal injection after botching an execution attempt in September.

Lowe says he's considering other legal options to keep his client out of Ohio's death chamber.
To hear audio;
www.akronnewsnow.com/news/itemdetail.asp?ID=37884§ion=news&subsection=localnews

Ohio tries again to execute Lawrence Reynolds for Cuyahoga Falls widow's murder

The state will try again Tuesday to execute a man who strangled his 67-year-old neighbor in her home to get money for his alcohol addiction.

Lawrence Reynolds Jr. had been scheduled to die last October, but Gov. Ted Strickland delayed the execution so the state could review its lethal injection procedure.

Since then, Ohio has switched from a three-drug process, which opponents said could cause severe pain, to a one-drug system. Reynolds lost a bid Friday to have the execution delayed so he can challenge the new system when federal appeals court "regretfully" denied his request. He plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Three inmates have been executed with the new method, and in each case death came in just a few minutes. Washington last week became the second state to adopt the procedure.

Reynolds, 43, was convicted for the 1994 killing of Loretta Foster, a widow who lived three doors down in their Cuyahoga Falls neighborhood.

Foster's family has been on an emotional roller coaster for the past five months while the inmate seeks another delay, this time from the court system, said Gail Hand, Loretta Foster's granddaughter.

Reynolds says the state hasn't worked out problems with accessing inmates' veins, and that a new backup plan that injects lethal drugs into muscles is untried and could cause pain.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied the request, with a judge arguing that the court has improperly dealt with challenges to the state's new system, and Reynolds' now plans to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hand, 40, said her family has mixed feelings about the death penalty but wants the sentence upheld. "It's been a long process, and my heart is broken just as much today as it was 16 years ago," she said.

Reynolds' attorneys, at his request, declined comment.

Loretta Foster often baby-sat for children in her neighborhood, including Reynolds' younger siblings.

About a month before her murder, Foster hired Reynolds to paint her basement. Reynolds, an alcoholic who was out of work and had little money, claimed he was promised $300 but only got $100, prosecutors said.

Reynolds went to the widow's house on Jan. 11, 1994, wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a wooden tent pole, which he used to beat Foster when she reached for a phone and tried to call for help, prosecutors said. Then he strangled her and removed her clothes.

At a bar later that night, Reynolds told a group of friends what happened. The friends went to the police.

At the trial, Reynolds' defense team didn't deny that Reynolds was responsible for the murder but attempted to show that he was drunk and had not gone to Foster's house intending to kill her.

He was convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and attempted rape.

Reynolds has had few family visits while in prison, and his parents wanted nothing to do with his request for clemency last summer.

His sister, Lori Reynolds of Akron, said she remains so upset by the murder that she hasn't spoken to her older brother since his arrest.

"I personally feel that it's time for this to be done. Things just need put to rest," Lori Reynolds said. She knew of no plans by her family to attend the execution.

Hand said she doesn't expect Reynolds' execution to make anything better for the Foster family.

"I don't think there will ever be closure in a case like this," she said. "Even though we have such great memories of my grandmother, it's always clouded by the tragic way she died."

To read more;
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/ohio_tries_again_to_execute_la.html

There used to be a wooden swing where Loretta Foster would sit outside her home.

From there, she'd greet family and friends and walk inside for a cup of coffee, a lot of conversation and a couple of hands of cards.

At age 67, the widow was hardly lonely. Her only son, her granddaughters, her sisters, were always minutes away. Her Schiller Avenue Cape Cod home was rarely empty or unhappy.

That all changed on Jan. 11, 1994.

That's the night Lawrence Reynolds Jr., the neighbor kid she watched grow up, came knocking at her door. He was drunk, high, broke and angry.

He left with $40 in cash, a blood-stained rope and sore hands.

On Tuesday, after more than 15 years on Ohio's death row, Reynolds is set to be executed. His appeals appear exhausted.

Reynolds, 43, who has never denied the killing, has declined requests for interviews. He has also instructed his public defenders not to speak about his case other than matters regarding his legal appeals, said Amy Borrow, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Public Defender's Office.

Foster's granddaughters — Gail Hand, 40, and her sister Patty Solomon, 41 — recently sat on a couch opposite the teetering stack of appeals filed in Reynolds' case.

It's time, they say, to end the paper chase.

''I've always been about choices,'' Hand said. ''You make choices and there are consequences for your choices.

''When you come down morally, it's tough. But it's also tough that we have to be put in this position. It's not our choice to be going through this.''

The two women, Hand a teacher and Solomon a purchasing agent, grew up in the Falls a bike ride away from their grandmother's house. Visits were as frequent as the cherry pie and grandmother's hug waiting for them.

Foster was part of ''The Club,'' a card-playing group of women in the family who met weekly to play spades and share stories. Other visitors found themselves at the same card table.

''She always talked people into playing a game of cards,'' Solomon said.

Foster was widowed for 19 years but lived in the house for decades. She had one child, her son, Michael, who never moved from the Falls.

Michael Foster's daughters would visit often, helping with chores, grocery shopping or just to chat.

The Reynolds family lived three doors away for decades. Larry Reynolds' two sisters were so close to Foster, they were almost considered grandchildren.

''She was just well loved by everyone,'' Solomon said. ''She was the kind of neighbor everyone came to visit, to help her out or play. She loved people and shared herself with everyone.''

Introverted teen

Reynolds was a different story.

He was an introvert who tasted his first sip of alcohol at age 14. He had few friends at Cuyahoga Falls High School and found refuge alone in his bedroom. After graduation, he joined the Army and spent the next six years there, fixing radios and visiting military clubs.

When he returned home, he found himself lost and unemployed. Drinking became his escape. He worked for an uncle installing windows, but booze made going to work in the morning arduous.

He sold Christmas trees around the holiday in late 1993. He also did some paint work in the basement for Foster.

But his behavior made the widow uneasy, especially the last year of her life. She believed he was making crank phone calls, so many that she had to change her telephone number.

She also thought he was the source of the pounding noise she heard on her window for several nights. His unexpected visits were alarming. She didn't want him to come inside; he'd jump and hide.

Foster shared her worry with her son, who reminded her he was only minutes away.

''She was nervous because Larry had been coming over and she didn't understand why,'' Hand said. ''She was just feeling uncomfortable. I believe she had a sixth sense.''

Things were so bad, Foster went to her doctor. Her blood pressure was rising right alongside her nerves.

On the night of Jan. 11, Reynolds came knocking again, this time with a letter from his sister, he told Foster. She opened the door. There was no letter.

At his trial, Reynolds and his attorneys said he was drunk and high and looking for money.

''I know that contorted my brain,'' Reynolds told a jury.

Other motives suspected

Foster's family believes he had other motives; she would have easily surrendered cash to make Reynolds go away. Instead, Reynolds went ballistic on the elderly woman before she could reach a phone.

She was beaten in the head with a thick, wooden tent stake more than a dozen times. Her clothes were partially removed. She was choked so hard, Reynolds would later tell his friends, that his hands were injured with rope burns.

He left with $40, a blank check, the rope and tent stake and headed to a bowling alley to meet his brother and friends. There, Reynolds boasted about the killing. By 4 a.m., the friends went to see for themselves. Police were called and Reynolds was arrested from his bedroom.

''I have no defense,'' Reynolds told the jury, adding an apology to the Foster family. ''I wish I could bring her back.''

Reynolds was convicted of aggravated murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping and attempted rape. The jury ignored his pleas to ''spare my life.''

The Foster and Reynolds families are no longer close. The Fosters told prosecutors before the trial that they wanted the prosecution to pursue the death penalty for Reynolds instead of a sentence that could have let him out of jail at some point.

Ironically, the families passed each other recently at the cemetery where Loretta Foster is buried.

''We have no resentment toward them,'' Hand said. ''They lost a friend. They lost a son.''

Appeals attempts

Over the past 15-plus years, Reynolds has appealed his case, trying to get off death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary near Youngstown. He was set to be executed last fall when Gov. Ted Strickland imposed a moratorium on the death penalty until the state established a new injection policy.

Last fall, a clemency hearing was held before the Ohio Parole Board. Solomon and Hand attended. Details of what happened to their grandmother, facts they weren't able to comprehend at the trial, were reopened.

''It was just raw emotion that you didn't know how to close,'' Solomon said.

''It was worse than the trial,'' Hand said.

Strickland has yet to rule on Reynolds' request for clemency.

Reynolds' stay is over. His appeal before a federal appeals court over the single-drug injection process the state is now using was denied Friday. Other inmates with similar appeals have been executed in the new year.

Reynolds is expected to arrive today at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, where Ohio carries out its executions.

His sister, Lori Reynolds of Akron, told the Associated Press that she remains so upset by the murder that she hasn't spoken to her older brother since his arrest.

''I personally feel that it's time for this to be done. Things just need put to rest,'' she said. She knew of no plans by her family to attend the execution.

Execution witnesses

Solomon is one of three Foster family members who will witness the execution. A niece and great-niece will also be witnesses. Two of Reynolds' friends and his attorney will serve as witnesses for the inmate.

Hand declined to attend. She will, however, be at the Lucasville prison.

The granddaughters said they don't know how they will feel after Reynolds dies. Instead, they will focus on their grandmother.

They said they try to remember the good times, the card games that their grandmother wouldn't let them win, the Christmas parties with the throng of relatives, the trips to the store with Grandma.

But those memories, they said, are always clouded.

''On top of every good memory,'' Solomon said, ''is a bad memory of what happened to her.''

To read more;
www.ohio.com/news/86794682.html

A convicted killer found unconscious in prison a little more than a day before his scheduled execution has been hospitalized in serious condition as authorities investigate a possible overdose, prison officials said Monday.

Lawrence Reynolds Jr., 43, who was sentenced to die for killing his neighbor in 1994, was found unconscious about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. He was alone in his cell on death row, she said.

Reynolds, who was expected to survive, appears to have taken an overdose of pills, Walburn said. She didn’t say what kind or how he got them.

Walburn said Reynolds’ injuries were self-imposed, but she declined to call it a suicide attempt. She didn’t elaborate. Prison guards had been frequently monitoring him, she said.

Reynolds was being treated at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown. The status of his scheduled execution Tuesday was uncertain.

Reynolds has been challenging Ohio’s new lethal injection procedure, which uses a one-drug system instead of three drugs. As expected, his attorneys filed an appeal Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to postpone the execution.

Messages seeking comment were left Monday at the Ohio Public Defender’s office, which is representing Reynolds.

This appears to be the first time since Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1999 that an inmate scheduled for execution “has been found unresponsive mere hours from being transported” to the state death chamber, Walburn said.

Reynolds was to leave at 3 a.m. Monday for the Southern Ohio Correctional
Facility in Lucasville, where the state’s death chamber is located.

His death warrant expires at midnight Tuesday and would likely have to be reissued if his lethal injection has not taken place by that time, Walburn said.
Reynolds was sentenced to die for strangling his 67-year-old neighbor in her Cuyahoga Falls home to get money for his alcohol addiction.
Tuesday would be the second time the state has tried to execute Reynolds. He was scheduled to die last October, but Gov. Ted Strickland delayed the execution so the state could review its lethal injection procedure.

Since then, Ohio has switched from a three-drug process, which opponents said could cause severe pain, to the one-drug system. Reynolds lost a bid to have the execution delayed so he could challenge the new system when federal appeals court on Friday denied his request.

Three inmates have been executed with the state’s new, one-drug new method, and in each case death came in just a few minutes. Washington last week became the second state to adopt the procedure.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100308/NEWS24/100309762

Gov. Ted Strickland issued a seven-day reprieve to convicted murderer Lawrence Reynolds, postponing his scheduled execution for one week while he recuperates from a suspected suicide attempt late Sunday night.
State prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn confirmed the reprieve, with a new execution date set for March 16 at 10 a.m. Strickland also has denied clemency in the case.
According to a statement from the governor's office, "Mr. Reynolds’ current medical condition has made it impossible to proceed with the scheduled execution tomorrow."
Reynolds was to be transported to the Death House at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility early Monday morning. But he was found unconscious in his cell at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday and was transported by ambulance to the St. Elizabeth Health Center, Walburn said.
He was in serious condition and remained unconscious during the morning but had stabilized after midday.
"His medical condition has been upgraded," Walburn said. "He is now in stable condition and is showing signs of consciousness."
Prison officials suspect Reynolds attempted to overdose.Walburn declined to comment on medications he had access to and said an investigation into the matter was continuing.
Reynolds has been cited three times since entering death row on drug-related issues, according to informationsubmitted to the state parole board:
In January 1996 and June 2002, Reynolds was caught with "hooch," or homemade alcohol. In November 1997, he received a box of instant soup packets with marijuana hidden inside.
The niece of Reynolds' murder victim wants answers from state prisons officials on how the Death Row inmate obtained whatever he used in what appears to be an attempted overdose hours before he was to be transported to the site of his scheduled execution.
Denise Turchiano, an Orrville woman who was scheduled to witness Reynolds' execution Tuesday, reacted in anger and disbelief at the news of Reynolds’ suicide attempt.
"Who gave him this, and why was he not being watched," she said. "I want answers. ... Somebody better answer how in the hell this is happening in the system."
Death row inmates scheduled for execution are placed under constant surveillance 72 hours prior to their lethal injections. Guards are placed outside cell doors and regular checks are conducted, Walburn said.
"We are doing an investigation to determine whether everything was done in accordance with policy," she said.
In January 1994, Reynolds conned his way into the home Loretta Mae Foster, a 67-year-old neighbor. He beat her with a tent pole, tied her up with a telephone cord and strangled her to death.
Reynolds took about $40 in cash and a blank check belonging to the victim; Foster's nude body was later found on the floor of her house, after Reynolds bragged to friends about the killing. He was convicted for murder, kidnapping, burglary and attempted rape and sentenced to death.
www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/4784641

Inmate Lawrence Reynolds' decision to attempt death on his terms before the state could execute him left Ohio officials with a dilemma.

Save him or let him die?

Reynolds, 43, who was to be lethally injected at 10 a.m. today, got a one-week reprieve yesterday as he regained consciousness in a Youngstown hospital after an apparent suicide attempt late Sunday.

The Akron man now has until next Tuesday to recover from the overdose before the state injects him with a dose of thiopental sodium, a powerful anesthetic that will most likely kill him within minutes.

The state will pay for Reynolds' medical treatment until he can be returned to Death Row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, where he was housed, or to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, where executions take place.

Reynolds was convicted and sentenced to death for the Jan. 11, 1994, murder of Loretta Foster, 64, his neighbor in Akron. Reynolds tried to rape the woman before strangling her and beating her with a tent pole. He later took friends back to the house to see her body.

Many Dispatch.com readers who commented on the story yesterday seemed to agree with this reaction: "We were gonna kill him anyways, why not just let him ... die from the overdose?"

Julie Walburn, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the state has two legal obligations.

"We have a constitutional duty to provide health care for this inmate until the execution commences. And we are legally responsible to carry out executions under the law. We will meet both our legal obligations."

Walburn said a full investigation is being conducted into how Reynolds, while on Death Row at the state's maximum-security prison, obtained drugs sufficient to cause an overdose.

He was found unconscious in his cell at the Youngstown prison at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital, where he remained in serious condition until midday yesterday, when he showed signs of regaining consciousness and was upgraded to stable condition.

Reynolds was not expected to be released from the hospital yesterday.

That prompted Gov. Ted Strickland to use his executive clemency power to grant a reprieve. Had the governor not acted, Reynolds' death warrant would have expired, forcing the Ohio Supreme Court to set a new execution date several weeks or months in the future.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Reynolds' suicide attempt raises ethical questions for both the state and medical personnel.

"The ordinary care would be to keep him in the hospital under observation. For doctors it raises the concern, 'Is he being patched up enough so he can be executed?' " he said. "What are our standards of decency in these life-and-death situations?"

While suicide attempts are common in prison, it is the first time an Ohio Death Row inmate tried to kill himself before the state could do it.

Such incidents are more common in Texas, the national leader in executions.

In 2006, condemned prisoner Michael Dewayne Johnson slit his throat less than 24 hours before his scheduled execution using a makeshift knife made from a sharpened piece of metal on a wood stick. His final legal appeal was pending.

Also in Texas in 1997, David Lee Herman slashed his throat and slit his wrist, but he was flown to a hospital where he was treated and returned to prison. He was executed about 24 hours later.

To read more;
www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/03/09/copy/state-doesnt-let-condemned-man-kill-himself.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

On what had been his scheduled execution date, a condemned killer remains hospitalized in Ohio following an overdose of pills.
Prison system spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Tuesday that 43-year-old Lawrence Reynolds Jr. is still in a Youngstown hospital. She said an update on his condition would be released later.
Reynolds was sentenced to die for killing his neighbor near Akron in 1994. He was found unconscious around 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.
He took the pills despite being under a 72-hour watch – routine for inmates approaching an execution date. What pills he took and how he got them is under investigation.
Gov. Ted Strickland issued a reprieve and rescheduled the execution for next Tuesday.

www.whiotv.com/news/22784743/detail.html

Officials say a condemned Ohio inmate who intentionally overdosed on pills hours before his scheduled execution took medication prescribed to him.

Prison system spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Tuesday that 43-year-old Lawrence Reynolds Jr. admitted taking an overdose.

The type of drug and why it was prescribed aren’t being disclosed. How he accumulated the pills is under investigation.

Authorities say he is improving at a Youngstown hospital after he was found unconscious in his death row cell Sunday night at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

He was under surveillance that’s routine for inmates approaching their hour of execution.

blog.taragana.com/health/2010/03/09/ohio-officials-say-condemned-killer-who-survived-overdose-took-prescribed-pills-20217/

Officials say an Ohio death row inmate was attempting suicide when he overdosed on pills two days before his scheduled execution.

Spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Wednesday that the determination was made by mental health staff in the prisons department.

She says investigators are exploring whether Lawrence Reynolds Jr. had visitors before the overdose or stockpiled medication prescribed for him.

Reynolds was to have been executed Tuesday but was found unconscious in his cell Sunday and hospitalized. He's back in prison on suicide watch, with his execution rescheduled for next Tuesday.

Prison officials have not identified the drug Reynolds took.
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/10/us/AP-US-Death-Penalty-Ohio.html