Sunday, February 14, 1999
Rules set out death procedure, down to last detail
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Prison officials are rehearsing. Administrators are increasing security. Counterparts in Texas and Florida are being asked for advice.
If last-minute appeals are unsuccessful by Friday night, convicted killer Wilford Lee Berry Jr., 36, will die by lethal injection, becoming the first prisoner executed under a 1981 law that reinstated the death penalty in Ohio. He will be executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville.
“There really is nothing mystical about it,” said Reginald Wilkinson, director of the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. “It's our responsibility to carry out the law, not to get involved in whether this punishment is right.”
In chilling, bureaucratic detail, the prison department has outlined the procedures leading up to Ohio's first execution in 36 years.
At 9 p.m. on the night of execution, the warden will signal the executioner to begin injecting lethal drugs into the condemned man's arm.
Within 10 minutes, a combination of sodium pentothal, pavulon and potassium chloride will put the killer to sleep and stop his heart.
“Once the execution cycle is completed, the designated personnel will examine the body and pronounce the prisoner dead,” according to the state's 10-page protocol for executions. “The warden will pronounce the time of death and the witnesses will be removed.”
Much has changed since March 15, 1963, when convicted murderer Donald Rienbolt was electrocuted at the Ohio Penitentiary near downtown Columbus.
While the old pen has been torn down to make way for a hockey arena, the chair Mr. Rienbolt was strapped into has been moved into the new death house at the Lucasville prison.
The only sign of its past use is on the arm rests. The glossy brown finish fades to a worn, weary gray from the dying grip of 312 men and three women who were put to death in the chair between 1897 and 1963.
One of the biggest differences since the last execution is allowing the condemned to choose the method used to kill them. Mr. Berry has chosen lethal injection, but the electric chair still is an option for the 190 others on Ohio's death row.
Even the time is different. Executions used to take place just after midnight. Prison officials changed the time to cut down on overtime costs for guards, said Joe Andrews, spokesman for the prisons department.
This is the second time Mr. Berry, dubbed “The Volunteer” because he would rather die than spend his life in prison, has been close to execution. He was in an armored van headed toward Lucasville March 3 when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily delayed the procedure.
The state's execution regulations allow the prisoner and the victim's family to choose three witnesses each. Up to seven members of the media also may attend.
Mr. Berry again has asked his mother, sister and an assistant state public defender to watch. The family of Charles Mitroff, the Cleveland baker Mr. Berry shot in 1989, chose two Kenton County, Ky., patrolmen and a suburban Cleveland private detective who solved the crime.
The two parties will be separated by a glass partition.
Once the prisoner arrives at the death house, prison officials will ask him to choose his last meal, plan funeral arrangements and specify who is to receive his personal items.
The schedule becomes more precise as the countdown is measured in hours rather than days.
“Approximately six hours prior to the execution, the prisoner is served his/her special meal,” the regulations state. “Inmate will be asked to write his last statement, if any.”
Unlike past executions in Ohio, Mr. Berry will not be able to speak his last statement. Instead, the warden will transcribe and copy a written statement for the witnesses.
With one hour remaining, “the prisoner will be permitted to take a shower and dress in the appropriate clothing for the execution.”
Also, a secured telephone line between the death chamber and the governor's office will be tested and remain open in case the federal courts order the procedure to be stopped or the governor decides to grant clemency.
If there is no last-minute halt, the warden and execution team will escort Mr. Berry down a short hallway from his holding cell to the death chamber. He will be strapped on a gurney bolted into the floor in front of the electric chair. Intravenous injection tubes will be inserted into his arm.
“Disposition of the body will be in accordance with arrangements made prior to the execution at the prisoner's request,” the prison regulations state. “The warden will sign and return the death warrant to the court, indicating the execution has been carried out.”
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