Judge denies requests to halt executions
COLUMBUS — A federal judge has rejected requests from two condemned Ohio inmates to put a temporary stop to their upcoming executions.
Lawyers for both inmates argue the first drug in Ohio’s lethal injection process creates the risk that prisoners being put to death will suffer serious pain.
Federal judge Michael Merz ruled in August that current court decisions have upheld the use of the drug, the sedative midazolam (mih-DAY’-zoh-lam), in executions.
Merz on Thursday cited that same ruling in denying the two inmates’ requests.
Death row inmate Alva Campbell is scheduled to die Nov. 15 for the death of 18-year-old Charles Dials 20 years ago after Campbell escaped from a court hearing.
Raymond Tibbetts is scheduled to die Feb. 13 in the fatal stabbing of a man in Cincinnati in 1997.
Construction worker killed on I-70
COLUMBUS — Police say a construction worker has been killed by an intoxicated driver along a Columbus interstate.
Columbus police say 59-year-old Steve Cook, of Barnesville, was struck while standing in an Interstate 70 work zone early Saturday. Police say 30-year-old Edward Torres, of South Solon in Central Ohio, killed Cook after driving a Honda minivan through construction barrels blocking off three closed lanes.
Cook was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police say Torres was under the influence of alcohol.
Torres has been charged in Franklin County Municipal Court with aggravated vehicular homicide. He’s being held in Franklin County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Court records don’t indicate whether Torres has an attorney.
Man remorseful for helping ISIS
COLUMBUS — An Ohio man has written a letter to the judge overseeing his case expressing remorse for trying to help the Islamic State group.
Aaron Daniels pleaded guilty in July to a charge accusing him of trying to travel to Libya to join the group.
Authorities allege Daniels wired $250 to an Islamic State group operative in January 2016 and told an undercover informant he was interested in traveling to commit violence overseas.
Daniels was 20 years old when he was taken into custody last November.
Daniels sent federal Judge Edmund Sargus a handwritten letter this week saying he regretted his association with “such an atrocious terrorist organization.”
He faces up to 20 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set. His attorney declined comment.
Boy shot himself with dad’s gun
PARMA — Police say the gun a 3-year-old Ohio boy used to accidentally shoot himself was found by the toddler in the console of his father’s van.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s office has identified the boy killed Thursday afternoon in the Cleveland suburb of Parma as Christian Hein, of Richfield. He died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Parma police initially said the boy was 4 years old.
Police say the toddler’s father was outside the van saying goodbye to his parents in the driveway of their Parma home when Christian found the gun and shot himself. An emergency crew took him to a hospital where he died.
Police say the father has a concealed carry permit.
Woman charged in infant’s death
RAVENNA — A judge in Ohio has set a $1 million bond for a woman charged in the death of her 3-month-old daughter.
Twenty-two-year-old Samantha Knisley, of Kent, was arraigned Friday in Portage County on charges including involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and child endangering.
Kent police say the infant apparently died after Knisely laid on top of her Sept. 13. Police were called to Knisley’s home that day after receiving a report of a child not breathing. The baby died at a hospital.
Cleveland.com reports Knisley told police she laid down with her baby, Isabella, and her daughter wasn’t breathing when she woke up.
Knisley’s attorney declined to comment Saturday.
