The Ohio Supreme Court without comment has denied a death row inmates motion to stay his execution.
Robert Van Hook is scheduled for execution on July 18. The motion sought a delay while he pursues a challenge of the state's lethal injection protocol. Meanwhile, a sedative the state of Nevada plans to use next week in its three-drug lethal injection cocktail has been blamed for problem executions in Ohio and several other states in recent years. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled midazolam may be used in lethal injections. The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting Nevada's use, citing Arizona's decision to stop using it following an execution that took nearly two hours in 2014. Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida and Ohio hosted botched or "observably troublesome" executions. Midazolam is one of the substances in Ohio's three-drug cocktail.
