COLUMBUS — With a week to go before his execution, death row inmate John W. Byrd's attorneys put his final appeal in the hands of a federal court that has already turned him down twice.

Byrd

        Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld 2-1 Mr. Byrd's death sentence for the 1983 stabbing death of Colerain Township convenience-store clerk Monte Tewksbury. The full court later rejected a plea to reconsider the case in a 7-6 decision.

        Despite those defeats, state public defenders on Tuesday asked the court to delay Mr. Byrd's Sept. 12 execution so they could have more time to take his case to U.S. District Judge James Graham in Columbus.

        Mr. Byrd's appeal focuses on two signed confessions from a man originally convicted as an accomplice to the murder. That man, John Eastle Brewer, says he is the one who stabbed Mr. Tewksbury.

        Two state courts dis-missed those confessions as unbelievable and the Ohio Supreme Court refused 4-3 to consider them. Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen says he's optimistic federal judges will follow suit.

        Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker said the 6th
Circuit is the legal gatekeeper to the federal court system.

        With all his regular appeals exhausted, Mr. Byrd must show that Mr. Brewer's confessions are worthy of a new hearing.

        Barring a court order or clemency, Mr. Byrd will be the first of 48 Hamilton County death row inmates to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1981. He would be the third person executed in Ohio since then.

        As Mr. Byrd awaits a decision from the 6th Circuit, he's also waiting to hear from Gov. Bob Taft. Mr. Byrd's attorneys are asking the governor to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.

        Although he's started his review of Mr. Byrd's case, Mr. Taft said Tuesday he's not made up his mind. He said the court system may affect the timing of his decision.

        “We don't have an exact timetable,” Mr. Taft said. “We have to consider what appeals are being filed, too, and how that plays into the whole timeframe.”

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