Ron Phillips allegedly suffered a traumatic childhood which involved mental illness and physical and sexual abuse by his father, mainly, and cousin.

He spent over half of his life on death row since he was sentenced on September 16, 1993, and had a total of 9 execution dates set between November 2013 and July 2017.

[6][7][8] A group of inmates, consisting of Phillips, Gary Otte, and Raymond Tibbetts, challenged Ohio's execution protocol, and thus a federal judge granted them a preliminary injunction on January 26, 2017.

Following the approval of Ohio's lethal injection protocol four weeks prior to the execution date, Phillips' attorneys filed a flurry of appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States, all of which were denied.

A day before his execution, he had a last meal of a large cheese, bell pepper, and mushroom pizza, strawberry cheesecake, a piece of unleavened bread, a Pepsi, and grape juice.