Ohio denies condemned inmate to donate organs to family

[Poker_Babe]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/m ... an-request

Ronald Phillips is scheduled to be executed in early July. Photograph: AP

Ohio said on Friday it was denying a condemned child-killer's request to donate organs to his family members, saying he didn't have enough time to undergo the surgery and recuperate for his summer execution.

Organ donation surgery would have to have been completed by this coming Sunday to give the death row inmate, Ronald Phillips, enough time to recover before the July 2 execution, but Phillips had not shown he was anywhere close to that happening, according to letters from state prison officials to Phillips' attorney.

The state "fully intends" to carry out Phillips' execution, Stephen Gray, the prison system's chief counsel, wrote to defense attorney Timothy Sweeney.

Sweeney declined to comment.

The department of rehabilitation and correction warned Phillips about the Sunday deadline in a letter two months ago, according to documents released by the state.

Phillips, 40, was out of appeals in November when he made a last-minute request to donate the organs, including a kidney to his sister and possibly his heart to his mother. The prison system rejected his request, but governor John Kasich delayed the execution until July 2 to give the state time to see whether it was possible to comply.

"I realize this is a bit of uncharted territory for Ohio, but if another life can be saved by his willingness to donate his organs and tissues, then we should allow for that to happen," Kasich said in a statement at the time.

Phillips was sentenced to die for the rape and death of Sheila Marie Evans, his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, in Akron in 1993.

In 1995, Delaware death row inmate Steven Shelton was allowed to donate a kidney to his mother while in prison, though he was not facing imminent execution. Following successful appeals, his death sentence was reversed and he was resentenced to prison time in 2011.

I think this is ridiculous. The fact that they say he wouldn't have enough time to recuperate after surgery, to be well enough for his execution??? really??? That makes about as much sense as them swabbing the inmate's arm with alcohol before inserting the needle for lethal injection I guess.
But the fact that the state is denying the possibility that a life could be saved out of this whole ordeal really pisses me off.
What say you?

 

[JickyJuly]

There's probably more to the story. Death row inmates usually try lots of nonsense to buy more time. Raped a 3 year old to death? Hard to muster up much feeling for him, his family or his kidneys. My question is why they keep people on death row for 20 years? Sure. They deserve time to appeal, but that's excessive.

 

[Rose]

There's probably more to the story. Death row inmates usually try lots of nonsense to buy more time. Raped a 3 year old to death? Hard to muster up much feeling for him, his family or his kidneys. My question is why they keep people on death row for 20 years? Sure. They deserve time to appeal, but that's excessive.

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Kill the fucker now was my original thought, but Jicky said it a lot better.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

There's probably more to the story. Death row inmates usually try lots of nonsense to buy more time. Raped a 3 year old to death? Hard to muster up much feeling for him, his family or his kidneys. My question is why they keep people on death row for 20 years? Sure. They deserve time to appeal, but that's excessive.

From that I also gathered it was a ploy to delay execution. Since they reminded him earlier and he didn't do anything until it was too late, it sounds deliberate.

As for the 20 years, it's not uncommon. According to this site inmates routinely spend over a decade on death row before execution, but some do go beyond 20 years.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/time-death-row

 

[JickyJuly]

They should give him the option to do it if he skips the anesthesia. Death by the shock of having a kidney ripped out is probably on par with the pain he inflicted on that baby. Brutal, but fair! Would Ohio be paying for this surgery?

 

[Poker_Babe]

Here in California, almost everyone on death row ends up dying of old age/natural causes. It's crazy, we're spending so much extra money on death row inmates (what with the housing, appeals, ect...) and they end up just doing the equivalent of a life sentence anyways.

 

[yossarian]

Here in California, almost everyone on death row ends up dying of old age/natural causes. It's crazy, we're spending so much extra money on death row inmates (what with the housing, appeals, ect...) and they end up just doing the equivalent of a life sentence anyways.

It's been determined that a life sentence is actually cheaper than execution in the long run.

 

[Shaun__]

That makes about as much sense as them swabbing the inmate's arm with alcohol before inserting the needle for lethal injection I guess.

They do that for the rare occasions that the execution is halted in progress, if they get an infection and die or lose their arm they could sue the state. Also remember innocent people can be put on death row too, not just child murders. innocenceproject.org

 

[Red7227]

Here in California, almost everyone on death row ends up dying of old age/natural causes. It's crazy, we're spending so much extra money on death row inmates (what with the housing, appeals, ect...) and they end up just doing the equivalent of a life sentence anyways.

It's been determined that a life sentence is actually cheaper than execution in the long run.

Yep, apart from the obvious problem with innocent people being executed. The last executions in both Australa and the UK were back in the 1950s and they were both found to be innocent later. In victoria we have a guy here who was responsible for a mass shooting back in 1989. He is now coming up to the parole period of his life sentence and an act of parlament has been created just for him to say whe will never be realeased. Much cheaper than tryign to execute him in the end.

 

[SexySteph]

I think this is ridiculous. The fact that they say he wouldn't have enough time to recuperate after surgery, to be well enough for his execution??? really??? That makes about as much sense as them swabbing the inmate's arm with alcohol before inserting the needle for lethal injection I guess.
But the fact that the state is denying the possibility that a life could be saved out of this whole ordeal really pisses me off.
What say you?

Someone can't be executed if they're not in full health. That's just how it works. He knows that so it's just a ploy to buy time.

 

[PlayboyMegan]

I think this is ridiculous. The fact that they say he wouldn't have enough time to recuperate after surgery, to be well enough for his execution??? really??? That makes about as much sense as them swabbing the inmate's arm with alcohol before inserting the needle for lethal injection I guess.
But the fact that the state is denying the possibility that a life could be saved out of this whole ordeal really pisses me off.
What say you?

Someone can't be executed if they're not in full health. That's just how it works. He knows that so it's just a ploy to buy time.

Just because that's how it works, doesn't mean it makes sense. There are a lot of laws in the US that make no sense. This is one of them.

 

[schlmoe]

Like most of you, I believe it is a stall tactic. If he is not 100% healthy on execution day (yeah doesn't make sense), his lawyers would file an 8th amendment violation (Cruel and unusual punishment). And it could possibly go all the way to the Supreme Court, which could take years.

For this guy, I say take his kidneys and heart, shut off the machines and let him "expire" naturally He'd still be under anesthesia, so he wouldn't suffer (I'm guessing) for long.

 

[Sevrin]

Like most of you, I believe it is a stall tactic. If he is not 100% healthy on execution day (yeah doesn't make sense), his lawyers would file an 8th amendment violation (Cruel and unusual punishment). And it could possibly go all the way to the Supreme Court, which could take years.

For this guy, I say take his kidneys and heart, shut off the machines and let him "expire" naturally He'd still be under anesthesia, so he wouldn't suffer (I'm guessing) for long.

Mistakes happen all the time.

 

[Poker_Babe]

For the most part I guess I'm really on the fence when it comes to the death penalty. But the system is flawed, and innocent people do get executed. And for that reason alone, the death penalty really should at the very least be suspended. :twocents-02cents: