Ohio man is first executed with lone dose of pentobarbital
Johnnie Baston was convicted of the murder of a Toledo store owner.
March 10th, 2011
12:50 PM ET

Ohio man is first executed with lone dose of pentobarbital

Johnnie Baston on Thursday became the first person in the United States executed with the single-dose drug pentobarbital.

Pentobarbital, a barbiturate that has been used in animal euthanasia and as a mild anesthetic in humans, was used in a U.S. execution for the first time in December, when it was administered as the first drug in a three-drug cocktail used in a lethal injection given to an Oklahoma inmate.

Sodium thiopental is the normal drug used in such lethal injections, but a nationwide shortage of the chemical has forced some states to scramble for possible substitutes.

In 2009, Ohio became the first state to perform an execution with a single drug, using a single dose of sodium thiopental.

Baston was pronounced dead at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville, the state Department of Corrections said.

He received the death sentenced for the 1994 murder of Toledo store owner Chong Hoon Mah, a South Korean immigrant who was shot in the head at close range.

“For a long time I didn’t see a lot of value in myself,’’ Baston said Thursday in the death chamber, the Toledo Blade reported. “It wasn’t until this moment, till I had to go through this ordeal, that I have seen so much love from so many people, letters from people all over the world, and even Ohio.’’

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Filed under: Crime • Death Penalty • Ohio
soundoff (464 Responses)
  1. Rick101

    Good Riddance!

    March 16, 2011 at 2:58 am | Report abuse |
  2. KCK

    If you ask someone, Say over the last 75 years, does the USA have a have a higer murder rate than Europe? The answer will be, of course the US.
    Are you including the millions murdered by Nazi Germany?
    The death penalty may or may not be a deterrant but when the government gets the power to execute people, that is when it becomes very dangerous.
    Even a mass murder or serial killer will kill only a few. When a murderer is executed, good riddence and it is not murder by the state. But whatever gain is made by having a death penalty, the risk of mass murder by the state is not worth it. With out a death penaly, we don't have to worry about what offense can be included for that penalty.
    If the government has the right to kill, it may someday include the crime of being an "enemy of the state". Let it be a sign of a despotic state if they want to kill. It is safer that no one has the right to kill, even when a cold blooded murderer should have no right to live.

    March 16, 2011 at 1:05 pm | Report abuse |
    • Ryan D

      The above comment is the first one I've read in a long time (on CNN, anyway) that has presented me with a fresh viewpoint on a highly controversial issue. Thanks for challenging me to stop and think about things for a while.

      March 18, 2011 at 2:56 pm | Report abuse |
  3. paul

    He killed a man back in 1994, what took us so LONG!!!! He should have been dead before 1995. that's what's wrong with out system.

    March 19, 2011 at 8:50 am | Report abuse |
  4. DB EDWARDS

    A tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. Moral is don't shoot honest store owners in the head. Baston would be alive today if he didn't go around murdering innocent people.. And no, I won't miss him and neither will citizens who value the lives of their loved ones and families.

    March 31, 2011 at 9:41 am | Report abuse |
  5. Tracy

    <3<3<3

    April 10, 2011 at 10:11 am | Report abuse |
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