Jerome Henderson, Kenneth Biros allowed inclusion in Ohio lethal-injection challenge case / Henderson stay of execution denied.

In separate rulings, Judge Frost of the US District Ct for Southern Ohio has granted motions by Jerome Henderson and Kenneth Biros to be included in the Cooey v. Taft lawsuit challenging Ohio's lethal-injection protocol.  Henderson's motion for a preliminary injunction to stay his execution scheduled for Dec. 5 was denied, however, in a written opinion by Judge Frost which expressed great consternation with the US 6th Circuit Ct of Appeals for lifting Jeffrey Lundgren's stay of execution at the last minute on October 23, without providing any explanation for why it was lifted.

Excerpt from order denying stay of execution for Jerome Henderson:
...Henderson’s circumstances are even more compelling than Lundgren’s situation, given that Henderson’s efforts to raise his claims at the earliest possible opportunity cannot be characterized as anything but diligent. Unfortunately for Henderson, the law of this case now appears to preclude this Court from granting his motion for a preliminary injunction to stay his execution...From the Sixth Circuit’s October 23, 2006 Order, this Court now knows that it erred in granting Lundgren’s motion to intervene and/or for a preliminary injunction. This Court just has no idea how it erred.

• Henderson ruling /stay denial is here (18-page pdf).
• Biros ruling is here (12-page pdf).