Ohio: Killer Can't Give Away Organs Before Execution

Ronald Phillips won't be able to give away his kidneys—and definitely not his heart—before he is put to death tomorrow for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, Ohio prison officials have decided. The inmate wrote to officials earlier this week saying he wanted to give away his organs and "he would like that one or both of his kidneys, if a match, go to his mother who is suffering from kidney disease and on dialysis, and for his heart to go to his sister, who has a heart condition," ABC reports.

Prison officials say the last-minute request is unprecedented and they decided they couldn't grant it, partly because of the security risks that would be involved in transporting Phillips to an off-site hospital. What happens to his organs after his death is up to his family—but it is not clear whether they will still be viable by the time his body is turned over to them, the AP notes. Phillips, 40, is scheduled to die tomorrow night from a lethal injection using an untested combination of execution drugs. (More Ohio stories.)