Kenneth Smith

Crosspost/Judge delays Ohio killer's execution
A federal judge on Friday delayed the execution of a condemned Ohio killer of two, agreeing with the inmate that the state enforces some of its execution policies haphazardly.

Kenneth Smith was scheduled to be put to death July 19 for killing a husband and wife in their Hamilton home during a 1995 robbery.

Smith and other inmates argue that Ohio too often strays from its execution policies by not always having the required number of execution team members present and not always documenting the mixing of drugs.

Frost agreed, calling four areas where the state strayed from its policies an embarrassment and creating what he called “haphazard application” of its death penalty protocols.

“Ohio pays lip service to standards it then often ignores without valid reasons, sometimes with no physical ramifications and sometimes with what have been described as messy if not botched executions,” Frost wrote.

If upheld on appeal, Frost’s decision would allow Smith to argue in an upcoming trial that the state violates the federal constitution with its uneven application of its rules for executing inmates.

Frost’s ruling did not judge whether Ohio’s death penalty itself was constitutional. A message was left with the state attorney general’s office regarding an appeal.

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