John W. Byrd Jr. asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to postpone his execution.

        Mr. Byrd is scheduled to die by lethal injection one week from today for the robbery and stabbing death of a Colerain Township convenience clerk in 1983.

        His attorneys say the appeal to the Supreme Court is Mr. Byrd's last chance to avoid execution.

        He has won several other delays over the years, including one just prior to his last execution date in September.

        “Our position is that this is it,” said Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker.

        In the appeal, Mr. Byrd's lawyers argue that the convicted killer did not get a fair trial in 1983 and did not get a fair hearing from appeals courts in later years.

        His lawyers have said for months that an accomplice, John Eastle Brewer, killed Monte Tewksbury. Mr. Brewer, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the robbery, has made sworn statements claiming he is the killer.

        Prosecutors dismiss his claims, saying Mr. Brewer knows he cannot be tried again for murder and is just trying to help Mr. Byrd's cause.

        State appeals courts, a federal magistrate and the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals all have dismissed Mr. Brewer's claims as unbelievable.

        Prosecutors say the appeal Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court raises the same arguments that were rejected by all of the lower courts.

        The Supreme Court rarely grants such appeals, and prosecutors say Mr. Byrd's case should be no exception.

        “There's nothing new here,” said Joe Case, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery. “He's looking anywhere and everywhere for one more bite at the apple.”

        Mr. Byrd's execution is set for next Tuesday at 10 a.m. He had asked to be executed in Ohio's electric chair, saying he wanted to make a point about the barbarity of the death penalty.

        But late last year, Gov. Bob Taft signed a law banning the electric chair. Lethal injection now is the only means of execution in Ohio.

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