Judge halts scheduled executions in Ohio

In Tennessee they've decided to bring back the electric chair in face of the shortage of death drugs. In Ohio they've gone a different direction.

In light of the murder of Dennis McGuire back in January (you'll remember that it was the longest execution in Ohio and that Mr. McGuire refused to die), US District Judge Gregory Frost issued a 2 1/2 month long moratorium of the state's death machine.

Judge Frost was concerned that the McGuire execution was proof enough that something is wrong with either the new drug protocols or the drugs themselves. The entire problem was brought about when European drug suppliers finally decided to put principle above profit and stop selling drugs to US prisons for use in executions.

Judge Frost's order puts a halt to the scheduled executions of Ronald Phillips and William Montgomery. Judge Frost was unmoved by Ohio's decision to up the dosage of the death drug.

Will the death penalty begin to go the way of laws banning same-sex marriage? Just as those laws have been stricken down state-by-state, could this ruling by Judge Frost be the beginning of the state-by-state abolition of the death penalty? Just keep in mind that some 19 states have already abolished the death penalty making it that much easier to determine that the death penalty is unusual.