[JURIST] Ohio authorities on Wednesday morning executed the first inmate under new lethal injection guidelines implemented last month in a move to prevent extreme pain during an execution. In a June report [PDF text] and letter [PDF text] to Ohio Governor Bob Taft, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction [official website] director Terry Collins [official profile] set forth several changes [JURIST report] in Ohio's lethal injection protocol. The problematic May execution of Joseph Clark [CantonRep report, registration required] prompted the changes, where staff struggled to find a vein to administer the lethal injection cocktail, and delayed the execution by an hour-and-a-half.

Collins' report recommended easing "artificial self-imposed time barriers" on execution team members, finding two intravenous sites before the execution begins, reviewing the medical file prior to execution and observing the inmate well before the scheduled execution. AP has more.