Governor Mike DeWine has delayed next month's execution of a condemned Ohio man and ordered the prison system to look at alternative lethal injection drugs.
The announcement by the Republican governor Friday followed a federal judge's ruling earlier this month that said Ohio's current execution protocol would cause the inmate needless suffering.
Warren Keith Henness was scheduled to die by lethal injection February 13 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
Henness was convicted of killing 51-year-old Richard Meyers in Columbus in 1992. Authorities say Meyers had been helping Henness find drug treatment for his wife.
Henness' attorneys argue the death row inmate may be innocent. They say two co-defendants provided the only evidence of Henness' guilt.
Prosecutors say Henness is lying about his innocence.
