COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday announced he has postponed Ronald Phillips' execution date until next summer in order to investigate whether the convicted killer's organs can be donated to family members. 
 
 The governor's decision came one day before the 40-year-old Summit County man was scheduled to be put to death under a newly approved lethal-injection drug cocktail. 
 
 Phillips, sentenced to death in 1993 for raping and killing the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, sought the delay in order to see whether he would be a viable organ donor to his mother, who has kidney disease, and his sister, who has a heart condition, according to the Associated Press. 
 
 Phillips is also willing to donate organs to other people if he couldn't help his relatives, his attorney, Lisa Lagos, told the AP. Lagos said the request wasn't a delaying tactic but an attempt by Phillips to make a final gesture for good. 
 
 The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction had denied Phillips' request earlier this week, citing logistics and security concerns, according to the AP. 
 
 The DRC isn't aware of any other time that an Ohio death-row inmate has made an organ donation, according to spokeswoman JoEllen Smith. However, Smith noted that it has happened in other states such as California. 
 
 In a statement, Kasich said he realized the situation "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. 
 
 Under DRC policy, state prison officials will conduct the initial compatibility tests. 
 
 If a transplant of any non-vital organs is feasible, Phillips would undergo an operation at Ohio State University Medical Center before returning to death row, the governor's office said in a release. His execution has been rescheduled for July 2, 2014 at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. 
 
 Phillips' execution has drawn increased attention because he was scheduled to be the first person put to death in Ohio using a new and untried lethal-injection cocktail consisting of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a morphine derivative. 
 
 The new method was announced last month because of a shortage of pentobarbital caused by European manufacturers' reluctance to sell the drug for executions. 
 
 With Phillips' execution postponed, Dennis McGuire may become the first inmate put to death using the new cocktail. McGuire, a Preble County man convicted of raping, choking and stabbing a pregnant woman in 1989, is scheduled to die Jan. 16, 2014. 
 
 Under the DRC's new protocol, the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility warden must notify department Director Gary Mohr within 14 days of McGuire's execution date whether he has enough pentobarbital to carry out the execution or if the new cocktail must be employed instead. ||||| Convicted child-killer Ronald Phillips was in the Death House and had ordered his last meal when he got the word yesterday: Gov. John Kasich had postponed his execution set for today to determine whether his “nonvital” organs could be harvested as he requested. 
 
 His execution now is scheduled for July 2. 
 
 “His first words were, ‘God is good.’ He feels immense gratitude to the governor,” said Tim Sweeney, the condemned man’s Cleveland attorney. 
 
 Kasich’s action is unprecedented in the nation in the case of an imminent execution, a death-penalty expert said. 
 
 The Republican governor said he halted Phillips’ execution “so that medical experts can assess whether Phillips’ nonvital organs or tissues can be donated to his mother or possibly others.” 
 
 “Ronald Phillips committed a heinous crime for which he will face the death penalty,” Kasich said in a statement less than 18 hours before the condemned man was to be lethally injected using two drugs never before used in combination. “I realize 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.” 
 
 The governor said if Phillips “is found to be a viable donor to his mother or possibly others awaiting transplants of nonvital organs, such as kidneys, the procedures would be performed and then he would be returned to Death Row to await his new execution date.” 
 
 There was no immediate comment from Akron Prosecutor Sherry Bevan Walsh, who handled the case. 
 
 Phillips, 40, was to be executed at 10 a.m. today at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville for the 1993 beating, rape and murder of 3-year-old Sheila Marie Evans, the daughter of his girlfriend at the time. He had exhausted all legal appeals and was moved yesterday to the Lucasville prison, where executions take place. Last night, he was returned to Death Row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. 
 
 Sweeney said his client was motivated “by love for his mom and for the desire to do something good. He’s been very remorseful for what he did, thoughtful and reflective over the past couple weeks.” 
 
 He wants to donate a kidney to his mother, who is on dialysis treatment for kidney disease, but is willing to donate to others if that is not possible. 
 
 Sweeney said he wasn’t sure what Phillips can donate, but he said it might include his kidneys, lungs, liver or bone marrow. 
 
 Prisons policy requires that the cost of transplant surgery be paid by Phillips or the organ recipients, not by Ohio taxpayers, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said. The policy also requires that Phillips’ surgery be performed at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University. 
 
 It is the first time in the United States that an execution was stopped to permit an inmate’s organs to be harvested, said Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. He said a Delaware inmate, Steven Shelton, was allowed to donate his kidney in 2005, but he was not facing immediate execution. 
 
 Phillips had ordered, but did not have time to eat, his “last meal,” which included pizza with mushrooms, onions and double cheese, spaghetti, corn chips, Dr Pepper, rocky road ice cream and Oreo cheese cake. 
 
 ajohnson@dispatch.com 
 
 @ohioaj
– A convicted child killer just got a last-minute reprieve from Ohio's governor, thanks to the inmate's unusual request to be an organ donor. Ronald Phillips, who raped and murdered the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, was supposed to be put to death tomorrow morning. Instead, Gov. John Kasich has postponed the execution until July while the state considers Phillips' plea to donate organs to family members or anyone else who might need them, reports the Columbus Dispatch. "I realize 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,” said Kasich. If doctors think Phillips' non-vital organs can be harvested, he would undergo surgery before his execution, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This isn't the only reason Phillips' case is making headlines—prison officials plan to use an untested combination of drugs because of a shortage of the standard pentobarbital.