COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers may soon deny convicted killer John W. Byrd Jr. his final wish — to die in the electric chair.

        The House passed a bill Wednesday 79-15 that would ban death by electrocution in Ohio, leaving lethal injection as the state's sole method of execution. The measure goes to the Senate, which could pass it this month.

The electric chair at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility has been used in 315 executions, but could soon be retired. A bill banning the electric chair has passed the Ohio House. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        Mr. Byrd, who was convicted of killing Colerain Township convenience store clerk Monte Tewksbury in 1983, asked to die by electrocution to underscore the cruelty of the death penalty, according to his attorney, Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker.

        The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jim Trakas, R-Independence, said the state should update its death penalty policy, pointing to a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision that outlawed electrocutions as cruel and unusual punishment.

        “If Ohio's going to be in the death business, it ought to be done in a humane and civil way,” Mr. Trakas said. “Using the electric chair just isn't right anymore.”

        Mr. Byrd's Sept. 12 execution was delayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, so that a federal court in Dayton can hear the confessions of John Brewer, an accomplice who says he stabbed Mr. Tewksbury. If the bill becomes law before Mr. Byrd's final appeal is decided, it's likely he won't be able to die by electrocution.

        Over the past two decades, 12 states, including Georgia, have outlawed electrocution, switching exclusively to lethal injection.

        Some Ohio lawmakers, including Rep. John Willamowski, R-Lima, said the legislature should let Mr. Byrd die in the chair.

        “The state is jumping through hoops today because a convicted murderer who showed no mercy to his victim and taunted his victim's widow from his prison cell has chosen the electric chair,” Mr. Willamowski said. “And I think that we should not be timid regarding honoring that choice.”

        Other opponents of the bill said that electrocution was a better deterrent to crime and a more appropriate punishment.
       

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