Fallsnewspress.com - Reynolds awaits execution

By Marc Kovac, Capital Bureau Chief

LUCASVILLE — Lawrence Reynolds received three separate doses of an anti-anxiety medication while awaiting his execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Reynolds, who spent the past week under a suicide watch after a failed drug overdose, received 50 mg doses of Vistaril twice on Monday and again this morning.
“They have said that he is becoming a little more anxious,” Walburn said of Reynolds’ mood during cell-front visits with his attorneys and spiritual advisers this morning.
Reynolds spent much of the night on the telephone and was resting in his cell in the hours before his scheduled lethal injection Tuesday.
The 43-year-old Summit County man, sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of an elderly Cuyahoga Falls neighbor, also visited with his attorneys and two spiritual advisers Monday evening and ate part of a special meal he requested.
He was transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility early Monday morning and spent much of the day in a holding cell 17 steps away from the state's execution chamber.
Reynolds remained under a suicide watch during the morning and was allowed only prison-issue clothing in his cell and no other personal belongings, Walburn said.
The suicide watch was lifted just after noon, and he was allowed to read letters received over the past week that were withheld. The letters were the only personal belongings Reynolds requested after the suicide watch was lifted, Walburn said.
Reynolds met with two attorneys from the Ohio Public Defender's Office and two spiritual advisers during contact visits Monday evening.
Afterward, he was served a special meal of a steak and pork chops (cut into pieces in advance), jumbo fried shrimp, fried cheese sticks, french fries, onion rings, fried mushrooms, black cherries, black walnuts and Dr Pepper.
He did not finish the french fries, onion rings, pork chop, shrimp, cherries, walnut or chocolate fudge, Walburn said.
After his special meal, Reynolds made phone calls to female friends and to his mother, the latter lasting about 20 minutes. He did not sleep, spending much of the night on the phone.
Reynolds’ execution is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Three relatives of Reynolds' murder victim plan to witness his execution: Denise Turchiano, a niece; Kelly Redfern, a great niece; and Patty Solomon, a granddaughter. Reynolds two attorneys, a spiritual adviser and a friend plan to witness the execution on his behalf.

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