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Family Of Executed Ohio Inmate Drops Civil Rights Lawsuit

Justin Masterson

The family of an Ohio inmate whose troubling execution more than a year ago led to an unofficial state moratorium on capital punishment is dropping its civil rights lawsuit.

The adult children of executed inmate Dennis McGuire asked a federal judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the state and an Illinois-based drugmaker.

McGuire snorted and gasped as he was put to death last year with a never-tried 2-drug combination. The lawsuit said McGuire suffered "needless pain and suffering."

A nearly two-hour execution in Arizona in July deepened concerns about the same 2-drug method.

The state prisons agency announced last month it was dropping the method in favor of alternative anesthetics which it currently doesn't have. An attorney for McGuire's children says that decision made the lawsuit unnecessary.