The children of Dennis McGuire say in a federal lawsuit that the state acted illegally in executing their father by using two drugs never intended to kill people. The suit being filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbus also argues that McGuire's execution on Jan. 16 was "cruel and unusual" punishment and violated the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The children of Dennis McGuire say in a federal lawsuit that the state acted illegally in executing their father by using two drugs never intended to kill people.



The suit being filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbus also argues that McGuire�s execution on Jan. 16 was �cruel and unusual� punishment because of how he gasped, snorted, choked and clenched his fists. The suit argues that violated the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.



Dayton attorney Jon Paul Rion, representing Amber and Dennis McGuire, the convicted killer�s children, predicted the outcome of the federal lawsuit will be to �cause a change in our death penalty system.�



The suit asks the federal court to stop future executions because the state is using drugs in lethal injections that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration �has not approved for that purpose,� Rion said.



The drugs, 10 mg of midazolam, a sedative, and 40 mg of hydromorphone, a morphine derivative, cost $10.60 and were obtained from Central Pharmacy, the drug collaborative program run by the Ohio Department of Mental Health, according to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.



McGuire, 53, was executed for the brutal 1989 murder of Joy Stewart, 22, who was newly married and 30 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. McGuire raped Stewart vaginally and sodomized her, choked her, stabbed her in the chest, and slit her throat so deeply it severed her carotid artery and jugular vein. He dumped her body in the woods near Eaton, Ohio, where it was found the next day by two hikers.



Her infant son, who she planned to name Carl, is buried beside her in a cemetery in West Alexandria in Preble County.



McGuire struggled, made guttural noises, gasped for air and choked for about 10 minutes before succumbing to a new, two-drug execution method at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. There was no clear indication that the combined injection drugs triggered McGuire�s death struggles. However, it was the first time the drugs were used together in a U.S. execution.

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