Governor John Kasich has issued a temporary stay of execution for a convicted killer scheduled to die tomorrow, in order to study his request to donate organs to his ailing mother and sister.
The announcement comes one day before 40 year-old Ronald Phillips was scheduled to be put to death under a newly approved lethal-injection drug cocktail. Phillips, who was convicted of raping and killing the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend in 1993, sought the delay in order to see whether he would be a viable donor. Lawyers said his mother has kidney disease and his sister has a heart condition. In a statement released this afternoon, the governor acknowledged this is...
"...unchartered 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."
If a transplant is feasible, any needed non-vital organs would be removed and he would be returned to death row, the governor’s office says. Phillips’ execution date has been rescheduled for July 2, 2014.
