Execution Of A Child Killer Delayed After Offering His Organs To Ailing Family Member

There was a twist and complication, after the execution of a child killer was delayed when he requested to donate his organs to ailing family members, authorities have considered the request.

Ohio Governor John Kasich's decision came less than 24 hours before Ronald Phillips was due to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter in 1993.

The 40-year-old's execution by lethal injection - using a two-drug cocktail untested in the US - has been rescheduled for July 2, 2014. The state of Ohio had originally denied the request Phillips made on Monday after he had been denied mercy and his other legal options were exhausted.

A prisons spokeswoman said the department was "not equipped to facilitate organ donation pre- or post- execution". But Mr Kasich said that while Phillips' crime was heinous, his willingness to donate organs and tissue could save another life and the state should try to accommodate a donation.

"I realise this is a bit of uncharted territory for Ohio, but if another life can be saved by his willingness to donate his organs and tissues then we should allow for that to happen," he said in a statement.

If Phillips is found to be a viable donor to his mother, who has kidney disease and is on dialysis, or others awaiting organ transplants of non-vital organs, those procedures would be performed and then he would be returned to death row, the governor's office said.

It is thought that Phillips' offer to donate his heart to his sister, who suffers from heart problems, would not be possible under the governor's directive, since the heart is a vital organ.

The killer had been moved to Ohio's death house last week in preparation for his execution, but a prisons spokeswoman said he will be returned to death row to await the assessment's findings. Phillips has denied the request was a delaying tactic.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Delaware death row inmate Steven Shelton was granted a request in 1995 to donate a kidney to his mother while in prison, although he was not facing imminent execution.

Mr Dieter, whose group opposes the death penalty, added: "If the whole idea is to save a life, there's one life to be saved simply by not executing the person at all."