COLUMBUS — Killer John W. Byrd Jr. was minutes away from taking a seat in the electric chair in 1994 when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped his execution. More than six years later, on Monday, the nation's highest court quietly rejected Mr. Byrd's final guaranteed appeal.

        That means, barring a second successful last-ditch effort, the former Northside resident could face execution as soon as April.

        Sentenced to die 18 years ago for stabbing convenience store clerk Monte Tewksbury during a robbery in Colerain Township. Mr. Byrd is expected to become the first or second Ohioan executed against his will since 1963. Death row inmate Jay Scott of Cleveland ran out of appeals in November and is considered first in line.

        None of that matters to Sharon Tewksbury, who on April 17, 1983, held her dying husband in her arms while waiting for the police and an ambulance. After one close call and years of waiting, she said another delay would not surprise her at all.

        “I've seen it time and time again that sentences get commuted and new trials get ordered,” Mrs. Tewksbury said. “I think there's a 50-50 chance that it will happen. It's just a feeling.”

        In fact, the Ohio Public Defender Commission promises to file appeals that can extend through the waning hours before the execution.

        “We will continue to honor our duty to zealously defend John Byrd against this unfair

        conviction and death sentence,” said Greg Meyers, the commission's chief death penalty counsel. “We will pursue all legal challenges that remain, as well as clemency, when the time is appropriate.”

        None of these future appeals, however, is guaranteed to halt or delay the execution. Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen expects they won't.

        “I have no doubt the anti-death penalty crowd will pull out all the stops to prevent the execution,” he said. “At this point, I think they're out of options. It's high time that Mr. Byrd face justice.”

        After some paperwork clears the federal courts, Mr. Allen will ask the Ohio Supreme Court to post an execution date. Mr. Meyers expects the high court to pick a day in April and announce it by the end of this month.

        Three people were involved in the robbery that took Mr. Tewksbury's life. William Danny Woodall and John Eastie Brewer were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for taking part in the crime.

        A fellow jail inmate identified Mr. Byrd as the one who stabbed Monte Tewksbury with a bowie knife. Ronald Armstead testified Mr. Byrd bragged about killing Mr. Tewksbury, at the Cincinnati Correctional Institute while both watched a television news story about the crime.

        Mr. Byrd's attorneys say Mr. Armstead made up the story to get a reduced sentence for a parole violation. But all efforts to get a new trial or a hearing to refute Mr. Armstead's testimony have been rejected.

        “Everybody recognizes that John Byrd is on death row because of Mr. Armstead's testimony,” Mr. Meyers said. “What made the first trial unfair was the fact the Mr. Armstead wasn't effectively cross-examined.”

        Mr. Allen said that argument was considered and soundly rejected by the courts.

        “Every court that has reviewed this has passed on the legal sufficiency (of the death sentence,)” he said. “It's time to get on with it.”

        Ohio came extremely close to carrying out Mr. Byrd's death sentence on March 15, 1994, after a federal court judge refused to halt the execution and hear an appeal in the case.

        A federal appellate court ordered a 120-day delay five hours before the execution was to take place. State officials moved ahead with their execution plans until 11:30 p.m., when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the appellate court's decision.

        At that point, Mr. Byrd had spent 36 hours in the ""Death House” at Lucasville prison. His will had been written, clergy had visited him and his last meal — a Caesar salad and T-bone steak — was on the table.

        Ohio has executed one prisoner since the death penalty was reinstated in 1981. Wilford Berry was executed by lethal injection in February 1999 after he waived his remaining appeals and asked to die.

        There are 201 inmates on Ohio's death row. One of them, Mr. Scott, will likely be the first executed against his will. He was sentenced to death in 1984 for killing an elderly delicatessen owner in Cleveland.

        None of the remaining inmates is expected to face execution this year. Kevin Scudder, convicted of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Columbus girl, has asked to waive his appeals, but his competency to make that decision is being evaluated by the courts.

        In the meantime, Sharon Tewksbury, says she will wait for Mr. Byrd's sentence to be carried out.

        “It isn't right that we should be sitting here for 18 years waiting,” she said. “The only thing that survivors have to hold onto is that the sentence is carried out, and we never have that assurance. Those of us who are left behind are buried in the midst of that, and it's devastating.”

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