COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio death-row inmate can't donate his organs to a family member because he wouldn't have enough time to recover from the operation before his execution, a state prison official said Friday.

Gov. John Kasich postponed Ronald Phillips' execution from last November to this July to see whether he would be a viable organ donor to his mother, who has kidney disease. His sister, who suffers from heart disease, was also initially mentioned as a possible recipient.

But Stephen Gray, chief counsel for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, notified Phillips' attorney that any transplant would have to take place by March 23, so Phillips would have at least 100 days to recuperate before his execution date of July 2.

In a letter to attorney Timothy Sweeney on Friday, Gray stated "it appears certain" that Phillips won't meet that deadline.

Gray previously wrote Sweeney in January that Phillips and his mother had made only "a little progress" toward arranging a transplant operation, even though prison officials had urged them to act quickly.

Gray added that the DRC would be "neither equipped, nor qualified" to transplant Phillips' organs after his execution by lethal injection, and he suggested medical officials might refuse to carry out such an operation on ethical and legal grounds.

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said the governor won't further postpone Phillips' execution. Nichols declined to comment further.

Sweeney didn't immediately return phone calls Friday afternoon seeking comment.

Phillips, a 40-year-old Summit County man, was sentenced to death in 1993 for raping and killing the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend.