Condemned Killer Of Parma Residents Appeals Ohio's Lethal Injection Method

COLUMBUS, OH — Lawyers for a condemned man, who killed two Parma residents in separate robberies in February 1992, are challenging Ohio’s lethal injection procedure. Gary Otte, 45, is questioning the constitutionality of the death penalty and wants his Sept. 15 execution delayed.

Prosecutors say that’s unlikely to happen and are fighting his appeals in both federal court and in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court. Otte’s lawyers say that during an execution carried out in July by Ohio, the state did not do enough to ensure the condemned man was sufficiently sedated before lethal chemicals flowed into his body.

"As the situation stands now, because of the inadequate and unreliable consciousness checks, there is a sure or very likely significant and substantial risk that Mr. Otte will suffer pain during the execution," his attorneys said in their appeal. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Cleveland newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

In a separate appeal in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court, Otte is asking that his sentence be declared unconstitutional because he was under 21 at the time of his crime. Ronald Phillips, a convicted child killer from Akron who was 19 at the time of his crime, unsuccessfully argued the same point in federal court earlier this summer. Phillips was executed July 26.

Otte’s lawyers are basing their request on a ruling this month by a Kentucky court, which said executing inmates under 21 at the time of their crime amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously outlawed the execution of anyone under 18 at the time of the crime.

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Otte was sentenced to die for the Feb. 12, 1992, killing of Robert Wasikowski and the Feb. 13, 1992, killing of Sharon Kostura. Both slayings took place in Parma. Otte asked to come inside Wasikowski's apartment to use the phone and then shot the 61-year-old and stole about $400, prosecutors said.

The next day, Otte forced his way into the apartment of the 45-year-old Kostura in the same building, shot her, then stole $45 and her car keys.

Photo and information via the Associated Press