Summary The lawsuit claimed the inmate had experienced "needless pain and suffering."
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The family of an Ohio inmate whose troubling execution more than a year ago led to an unofficial state moratorium on capital punishment is dropping its civil rights lawsuit.
The adult children of executed inmate Dennis McGuire asked a federal judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the state and an Illinois-based drugmaker.
McGuire snorted and gasped as he was put to death last year with a never-tried 2-drug combination. The lawsuit said McGuire suffered "needless pain and suffering."
A nearly two-hour execution in Arizona in July deepened concerns about the same 2-drug method.
The state prisons agency announced last month it was dropping the method in favor of alternative anesthetics which it doesn t have. An attorney for McGuire s children says that decision made the lawsuit unnecessary.
