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. His execution has been rescheduled for July 2, 2014 at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. “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. 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. 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.
– 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.