Dennis McGuire Execution - Lawyer Accused of Coaching McGuire to 'Put on Big Show' During Procedure

By Sami K. Martin, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Lawyers for executed inmate Dennis McGuire have been accused of coaching their client on how to fake symptoms of suffocation. McGuire's controversial execution was carried out last week despite his attorneys arguing that their client would suffer from air deprivation and suffer a cruel death.

Robert Lowe, one of McGuire's attorneys, was temporarily suspended last week, but the suspension was lifted after a review failed to show proof that Lowe had coerced McGuire. State records, however, show that McGuire told several prison guards that Lowe had encouraged him to make a big scene during his execution in order to hopefully abolish the death penalty.

"He wants me to put on this big show in front of my kids, all right when I'm dying," McGuire reportedly told one guard. "I ain't gonna do this. It's about me and my kids, not him and his cause."

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McGuire refused to make a scene during his execution but did show signs of distress as the procedure was carried out. He struggled against his restraints and gasped for air before finally passing away 26 minutes after the injections were given. A spokeswoman from the public defender's office noted that by all accounts of the execution, McGuire was unconscious and unaware of his actions during the execution.

Prison officials reportedly told Governor John Kasich's lawyer that McGuire had been overheard telling his family that he'd been "encouraged to feign suffocation when the lethal injection drugs were first administered," a statement from the public defender's office said.

Lowe is not speaking with the media about the accusation, especially now that he is back at work after a failure to substantiate the claims. McGuire was put to death using a controversial combination of midazolam and hydromorphone, which had never been used before in the state. McGuire's family plans to sue the state of Ohio for cruel and usual death based on what they witnessed in the execution chamber.