Ohio executes inmate for stabbing jail guard to death
Man decided against appeal to Supreme Court
LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A man convicted of killing a jail guard who was about to search his cell was executed Tuesday after his attorney decided against pursuing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
William G. Zuern, 45, was pronounced dead by injection at 10:04 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Zuern refused to talk to the prison staff before his execution and stuffed his ears with toilet paper so he couldn't hear them, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
At one point, Zuern removed the paper from his ears and asked a guard "What time does all of this start?" Dean said.
Asked if he had any last words before execution, Zuern said: "Nope."
He was the 12th inmate to die by injection since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.
Earlier, his attorney, Kate McGarry, decided not to continue his appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, but would not say why she made that decision.
On Monday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected two appeals on Zuern's behalf. A three-judge panel lifted a stay of execution issued earlier in the day, then a majority of judges on the 6th Circuit voted not to allow the full court to consider Zuern's appeal.
The stay had been issued earlier Monday by U.S. District Judge Walter Rice in Dayton to allow the appeals court more time to consider whether Zuern's death sentence was fair.
McGarry had argued that Zuern's lawyers didn't present evidence that could have helped him when he was sentenced.
Zuern was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death in the June 9, 1984, stabbing death of jail officer Phillip Pence.
He had been awaiting trial for a killing in Cincinnati when Hamilton County jail officials received a tip that Zuern had a weapon in his cell.
When officers arrived, Zuern stabbed Pence in the chest with a dagger he had fashioned out of a metal bucket handle, officers said.
Gov. Bob Taft on Monday denied clemency, saying Zuern never showed remorse for the stabbing and had committed other crimes during his incarceration.
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