Akron killer Ronald Phillips is in Lucasville - kept with just a wall and corridor between his cell in the Death House there and the Death Chamber where he's scheduled to recieve a lethal drug cocktail tomorrow.
Phillips, on Death Row for 24 years, is scheduled to die by injection for the 1993 rape and murder of three year old Sheila Marie Evans, the daughter of his then-girlfriend.
Phillips arrived shortly after ten this morning; while his "special meal request" is subject to change, WAKR's Ryan Lang reports he asked for a large cheese, bell pepper and mushroom pizza; strawberry cheesecake; a two-liter bottle of Pepsi; a 10 ounce bottle of grape juice and a piece of unleavened bread.
The U.S. Supreme Court has a bid before it for a stay of execution from critics who are contesting the three-drug mix used for lethal injection as a "humane" form that will minimize pain and suffering for Phillips. Critics are also asking Ohio Governor John Kasich to intervene, citing the drug cocktail isn't proven.
Barring any delays or stay orders from the Court or the Governor, Phillips will be receive the injection tomorrow morning after 10:00.
As expected, lawyers for three condemned killers are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in after the full Sixth Circuit Appeals Court ruled against their bid to halt their executions.
Among the three is Akron's Ronald Phillips, scheduled to die July 26 for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend's three year old daughter, Sheila Marie Evans.
The defense lawyers say they need more time to appeal the state's use of a new drug execution method.
Once again, Akron's Ronald Phillips breathes easier because a judge has stepped in to halt his last breath.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Merz ruled Ohio's plans to use a new three-drug cocktail to deliver the lethal injection that would kill Phillips is unconstitutional, a victory for opponents of capital punishment who've successfully out-maneuvered states where lethal injection is the form of execution by denying access to lethal drugs previously used because pharmaceutical and chemical companies won't sell them for the purposes of executions.
Phillips has been on Death Row for over a generation for raping his then-girlfriend's three year old daughter; Sheila Marie Evans died weeks later from the severe injuries. He had been scheduled for execution in the Death Chamber at the Ohio Correctional Insitution in Lucasville in January, but appeals put that schedule on hold until a scheduled February 15th date. Now that schedule is also on hold.
Ironically, the ruling by Judge Merz came almost to the day of the anniversday of the death of Evans on January 18, 1993.
Lawyers for Phillips and two other inmates argued before Merz that the use of a sedative, midazolam, couldn't meet a U.S. Supreme Court threshold of not causing "serious harm." Merz also barred the use of the two other drugs, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride, ruling the State was not consistent in his offerings in the past on the new lethal cocktail as an alternative. The first two chemicals sedate and paralyze the inmate, while the potassium chloride stops the heart.
Ronald Phillips gets no mercy -- but he does get another month on Death Row. Governor Kasich reschedule the Akron killer's execution date after an indefinite stay from a federal court on Ohio's next three scheduled executions, including Phillips.
Kasich moved the date to February 15th but any execution would be determined by court appeals. Kasich agreed with the Ohio Parole Board against clemency for Phillips, who raped and killed his then-girlfriend's three old daughter in 1993.
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(Governor John Kasich) In response to a federal court order issued on Monday which indefinitely stayed three executions scheduled in 2017, today Governor John R. Kasich issued short delays for the scheduled executions of the first two inmates – Ronald Phillips and Raymond Tibbetts. Phillips was convicted in 1993 in Summit County for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl, and Tibbetts was convicted in 1998 in Hamilton County for the murder of his wife and the couple's 67-year-old landlord. Additionally, Kasich denied Phillips' request for clemency.
"The State disagrees with the federal court's indefinite stay and has already filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Given the uncertainty created by the Court's order, however, this brief delay should provide the Court time to resolve any pending legal issues," said Emmalee Kalmbach, the governor's press secretary.
The actions announced today will delay Phillips' scheduled January 12 execution to February 15, 2017, and Tibbetts' from February 15 to April 12, 2017.
Agreeing with the Ohio Parole Board in denying clemency to Phillips, Gov. Kasich stated: "Given the extremely brutal nature of the offense committed against an innocent three-year-old child, I agree with the Ohio Parole Board's recommendation that clemency is not warranted in this case."
The Akron man who's been on death row since 1993 may have just over a month left on earth.
The Ohio Parole Board today recomended no clemency for Ronald Phillips, who first began serving his sentence 23 years ago after he was convicted of the rape and murder of his then-girlfiend's three year old daughter.
The crime was horribly brutal; an autopsy found "severe trauma" in the death of Sheila Marie Evans, including damages to her internal organs and more than 120 bruises over her tiny body. Prosecutors said the injureis reflected several hours of a severe beating, then rape, before she died days after she was hospitalized.
The recommendation now moves to Governor John Kasich, who hasn't been receptive to considering Phillips' case in the past. Barring any last-minute court appeals, Phillips will die by lethal injection on January 12, 2017 in the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville, Ohio.
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(Summit County Prosecutor) Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh announced today that the Ohio Parole Board voted to recommend convicted murderer Ronald Phillips be denied clemency. Phillips' clemency request and the Board's recommendation now go to Ohio Governor John Kasich, who makes the final decision to grant or deny clemency.
In 1993, a Summit County jury found Phillips, then 19, guilty of Aggravated Murder, Felonious Sexual Penetration and three counts of Rape. In January of that year, Phillips brutally assaulted and raped three-year-old Sheila Marie Evans. Evans died as result. Among her injuries were severe trauma to her internal organs and more than 125 bruises to her face, torso, arms, legs and genitalia.
"Phillips brutally beat and assaulted Sheila Marie over several hours. She suffered for days before dying from her injuries. Phillips deserves the ultimate punishment for what he did," said Prosecutor Walsh. "This is the third time the Ohio Parole Board has denied Phillips clemency. My hope is that Governor Kasich follows the Parole Board's recommendation and denies Phillips clemency and gives peace to Sheila's family."
In its recommendation against clemency, the Board cited several reasons, and again called the repeated beating and rape of Sheila Marie Evans "clearly among the worst of the worst capital crimes."
Phillip's execution is scheduled for January 12, 2017.