Dennis McGuire Execution: Family Planning to Sue State for 'Horrific' Procedure
The family of executed Ohio prisoner Dennis McGuire is planning to sue the state after he allegedly suffered during the execution. They claim that he suffered "air hunger" during the procedure and they were left haunted by the experience.
"The people of the state of Ohio should be appalled by what was done in their name," Allen Bohnert, one of McGuire's public defenders, told The Columbus Dispatch. "What we suggested to the court did happen."
McGuire's family, including daughter Amber, son Dennis and daughter-in-law Missie McGuire, were all present for the execution and were reportedly horrified by what they witnessed. According to one witness for the Dispatch, McGuire was given the dose of medication, and his body began straining against the restraints and then he began gasping for hair and made choking sounds for 10 minutes. It took nearly 30 minutes for him to finally pass away.
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"I'd like to say I'm sorry to Joy's family and thanks for the letter," McGuire said before being given the drugs. "The kind words mean a lot. To my children, I love you. I'm going to heaven. I'll see you when you get there."
McGuire's death was extremely controversial, given that he was administered a combination of drugs not ever used in the state before. Even though there was much speculation about what would happen once McGuire was given the drugs, the judge in his case refused his appeal and allowed the execution to continue as planned.
"There has been a lot of controversy regarding the drugs that are to be used in his execution, concern that he might feel terror, that he might suffer," the family of his victim, Joy Stewart, said in a prepared statement. "As I recall the events preceding her death: forcing her from the car, attempting to rape her vaginally, sodomizing her, choking her, stabbing her, I know she suffered terror and pain. He is being treated far more humanely than he treated her."
The prison system will now carry out an investigation into the execution procedure and the drugs used, as it does "after every execution," spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said.
