Execution Postponed for Prisoner Who OD'd

Last Updated 1:55 p.m. ET

Ohio has postponed the execution of an inmate who overdosed on pills.

Authorities say 43-year-old Lawrence Reynolds was hospitalized after being found unconscious in his prison cell about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

He had been scheduled to die by lethal injection for the killing of his Cuyahoga Falls neighbor, a 67-year-old neighbor woman, in 1994.

The execution, which was to be Tuesday, will now take place on March 16.

Prison spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Reynolds has been upgraded from serious to stable condition at a Youngstown hospital, but medical staff do not anticipate releasing him Monday. Walburn said the state has a constitutional duty to care for Reynolds.

Walburn said Gov. Ted Strickland has issued the seven-day reprieve to allow Reynolds to be released and provide state prison staff with extra time to prepare for his execution.

Walburn says Reynolds' injuries were self-imposed, but she declined to call it a suicide attempt. The state continues to investigate the case.

A message for comment was left with the Ohio Public Defender's office, which is representing Reynolds.