Fallsnewspress.com - Inmate overdoses; execution delayed

Lawrence Reynolds

by Marc Kovac

Capital Bureau Chief

Columbus -- Death Row inmate Lawrence Reynolds was back at the Ohio State Penitentiary the afternoon of March 9 and under around-the-clock observation, to prevent a repeat of what appears to be a suicide attempt that postponed his scheduled execution for strangling his elderly Cuyahoga Falls neighbor.

He is now scheduled to be executed March 16.

Reynolds returned to the Youngstown prison just after noon after spending about two days in a hospital after attempting to overdose on prescription drugs.

Julie Walburn, state prisons spokeswoman, said he is being kept in a different cell, away from other inmates, with additional restrictions on his access to personal belongs and activities.

"He will no longer be able to have recreation," she said. "We are making accommodations to ensure he has attorney access ... He won't be leaving that cell that he's in right now except under special precautions."

Prison officials also are continuing to investigate how Reynolds obtained enough prescription pills to attempt an overdose.

"Part of what we are looking into is anyone he would have had contact with and whether that contributed to the incident," Walburn said.

Reynolds has admitted to prison staff that he took quantities of a prescription drug as part of an overdose that left him unconscious and postponed his scheduled execution by a week.

Walburn said it is still not known how Reynolds obtained quantities of the drug. She would not disclose the type of drug, nor how often Reynolds receives doses, citing the inmate's medical confidentiality.

"The investigation is ongoing," Walburn said, adding, "We're looking at all factors surrounding [this incident] as part of the investigation."

Reynolds was to be transported to the Death House at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville early March 8.

But he was found unconscious in his cell at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown at about 11:30 p.m. the night before and was transported by ambulance to the St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Foster's niece, Denise Turchiano of Orrville, reacted in anger and disbelief at the news.

"Who gave him this, and why was he not being watched," said Turchiano, who was scheduled to witness Reynolds' execution March 9. "I want answers. ... Somebody better answer how in the hell this is happening in the system."

Gov. Ted Strickland denied clemency for Reynolds March 8 but issued a seven-day reprieve, postponing his scheduled execution for a week.

Strickland, who worked as a prison psychologist at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, said it isn't unusual for inmates to hoard and exchange medications.

"Having worked in the prison system, I am hugely aware that the inmate population can be very creative in trying to break the rules and overcome the rules," he said. "It's happened, but I think these kinds of occurrences, in terms of inmates passing medications and saving medications up and doing those kinds of things, is not a terribly rare thing to have happened."

Strickland speculated that's what happened in Reynolds' case.

"Inmates on Death Row, obviously some of them are on medications of different kinds," he said. "So I am speculating that they saved up their medications and gave it to this inmate so that he could have a sufficient amount to try to take an overdose. I'm not certain that's how it happened ... I'm speculating out of experience that that's likely what happened."

Strickland added, concerning prison officials' efforts to restore Reynolds' health prior to his scheduled lethal injection, "It is ironic, obviously, that you would work to keep someone alive when they are scheduled to be executed. But I think the law apparently is very clear that the state has the obligation to attend to an inmate's medical needs, even a condemned person, until such time as the date of execution occurs and they are in fact executed."

In January 1994, Reynolds conned his way into the Cuyahoga Falls home of Loretta Mae Foster, a 67-year-old neighbor. He beat her with a tent pole, tied her up with a telephone cord and strangled her to death.

Reynolds took about $40 in cash and a blank check belonging to the victim; Foster's nude body was later found on the floor of her house, after Reynolds bragged to friends about the killing. He was convicted for murder, kidnapping, burglary and attempted rape and sentenced to death.

Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau Chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at Ohio Capital Blog.