Ohio Milestone: 50th Execution Since Reboot

Ohio marked its 50th execution this week since it resumed administering capital punishment 14 years ago.  Frederick Treesh died by lethal injection on Tuesday for a murder committed during a multi-state crime spree in 1994.  He was executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, in the same small death chamber used for all 50 executions.

In his final statement, Treesh blamed his downfall on drugs.  “This is where cocaine will lead you,” he said.  Minutes later, Treesh, 48, was dead from a powerful dose of the drug pentobarbital.  Ohio, like several other states, has converted its execution protocol to a single barbiturate from the three-drug cocktail used in earlier lethal injections.  A critical component of that mixture is no longer manufactured.

The 1999 resumption of capital punishment came after a 33-year gap in Ohio executions.  Four more executions are on the state’s calendar this year, five in 2014.