Today the (ABA) , according to The Plain-Dealer. The ABA's Death Penalty Assessments Team found , including inadequate defense counsel for death row defendants, racial disparities in sentencing and a significant number of mentally ill death row inmates. As the article points out, Ohio is the seventh of eight states assessed by the ABA team; Pennsylvania is currently under assessment.
The Ohio news follows on the heels of last Wednesday's federal court ruling that found . Judge Aleta A. Trauger found the three-drug death cocktail would cause "a substantial risk of unnecessary pain" if the anesthetic drug is not administered properly. John Holdridge, Director of the Capital Punishment Project, commented on the ruling in a .