Columbus, January 21 (RHC)-- In the United States, the family of an Ohio man whose “agonizing” execution took nearly 25 minutes is to sue the state, saying the way he was executed was in violation of his constitutional rights.

Dennis McGuire was executed for raping and killing a pregnant woman in 1989. The execution was carried out using a combination of drugs which was never before tried in the United States. McGuire's attorney said that "the people of the state of Ohio should be appalled at what was done in their names,” calling the execution “a failed, agonizing experiment.”

53-year-old McGuire gasped several times and made loud snorting noises during the 25 minutes that passed between the time the lethal drugs began flowing and the time he was pronounced dead. The new combination of lethal drugs was adopted by Ohio after the state's supply of a previously used drug, the sedative phenobarbital, dried up following its manufacturer's refusal to sell it for executions.

Ohio has five more executions scheduled this year and McGuire's execution, which was one of the longest since Ohio resumed capital punishment, has raised many questions regarding the new method. Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion said: “All citizens have a right to expect that they will not be treated or punished in a cruel and unusual way.”