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Attorney Back At Work After Allegations He Urged Death Row Inmate To Dramatize Execution

An attorney for a condemned Ohio inmate who snorted and gasped during his execution was temporarily suspended last week while officials investigated whether he had coached the inmate to fake symptoms of suffocation before he died.   The Ohio Public Defender's Office says Robert Lowe, an attorney for inmate Dennis McGuire, was back at work Monday after an internal review could not confirm the allegation. 

State prison records released Monday say guards were told by McGuire that Lowe wanted him to "put on this big show" that would end in abolition of the death penalty.  But three prison accounts indicate McGuire was unwilling to make a show of his death.  McGuire's fitful display on the execution gurney has sparked criticism across the world and calls for a death-penalty moratorium. His family has sued alleging undue cruelty.
 

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