Thaindian News

By Ranjan Bhaduri
Mar 9, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Ohio State Penitentiary inmate Lawrence Reynolds Jr. (43), who was supposed to meet his execution, was reportedly found unconscious at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Ohio State Penitentiary, Youngstown. Lawrence Reynolds, who was to be executed by one drug lethal injection had somehow managed to take in an overdose of pills thus rendering himself unconscious in his cell. The prison spokeswoman said that the convict took the pills even after being watched over by the prison guards. The prison guards are supposed to keep an eye on the prisoners and file a case log after an interval of 30 minutes. All inmates who are on death row are given access to a special recreation area and nothing more.

Undoubtedly, the inmate’s injuries were all self inflicted, following which he was admitted at the Youngstown hospital. Owing to the incident Gov. Ted Strickland deferred the execution date and rescheduled it to be March 16. An investigation is under process to figure out exactly what kind of pills the convict had consumed. Lawrence Reynolds will be executed by lethal injection at the death chamber of Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

The inmate’s lawyers have already been up against the State’s new lethal injection procedure that now employs a one-drug system of killing rather than a three drug system, where death drops in early for the convict. Lawrence Reynolds was held under custody following his act of strangling a 67-year-old neighbor in her house, in the process of getting money out of her for his alcohol addiction. It was the second time that the court has actually tried to execute him. The inmate was originally scheduled for execution in the month of October, but it took a backstep due to the one drug lethal injection procedure.