COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio is shielding interviews with
about 20 prison employees involved in the fitful January execution of an
inmate who repeatedly gasped and snorted as he was put to death with a
never-tried drug method.
The Department of Rehabilitation and
Correction says lawyers with the Attorney General’s Office interviewed
the employees after the Jan. 16 execution of Dennis McGuire.
The
agency denied a request by The Associated Press for the interviews
earlier this week, saying they were protected by attorney-client
privilege and because they constitute trial preparation records.
The
state’s actions shed more light on Ohio’s response to the unusual
execution, which included boosting lethal dosages for future procedures.
The state noted in denying the records that McGuire’s family threatened a civil rights lawsuit
immediately after the execution.
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