Ohio execution of condemned man set; 1st in over 3 years
By Associated Press
Jul 26, 2017 5:04 AM CDT
FILE – This undated file photo provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction shows death row inmate Ronald Phillips, convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron, Ohio. In a brief filed Monday, July 24, 2017, at the U.S. Supreme Court, 15...   (Associated Press)

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio is preparing to put a condemned child killer to death in the state's first execution in more than three years.

Forty-three-year-old Ronald Phillips is scheduled to die Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was convicted for the 1993 rape and killing of Sheila Marie Evans, his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.

Phillips and other death row inmates have challenged the state's new three-drug execution method, which includes a sedative used in some problematic executions in Ohio and elsewhere. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his request for a stay to continue legal appeals.

Phillips' attorneys call the case tragic, but say he wasn't one of the worst offenders.

The prosecutor says it's time for justice to be served.

Ohio last executed an inmate in 2014.