By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
AP Legal Affairs Writer

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) - A condemned killer scheduled to be put to death March 10 with the country's first use of the surgical sedative pentobarbital spent the night before his execution awake and talking on the phone.

Johnnie Baston also spent part of that morning praying with his daughter, Asziah Baston, and his adopted mother, Tommie Nell Davis.

Prison spokesman Carlo LoParo says Baston had showered and also met with his lawyers and a minister.

The 37-year-old man was sentenced to die for killing Chong-Hoon Mah, a South Korean immigrant who was shot in the back of the head.

Ohio switched to pentobarbital after supplies of the drug previously used ran short. Oklahoma also uses pentobarbital but combines it with two other drugs.