LUCASVILLE, Ohio — They came from across the state, a handful, while it was still dark and cold, carrying signs, prepared to stand vigil while the state prepared to execute John W. Byrd.

        Finally, from 9:59 until 10:14 a.m. Tuesday, they stood silently in a circle in a parking lot and waited for word from beyond the razor wire and inside the walls of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

        “We stand here helpless but not hopeless,” Sister Alice Gerdeman, of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Cincinnati, said at 9:59.

        Fifteen minutes later, when word reached them, she said: “We have just heard that John Byrd passed from this life.”

        Ida Strong, a friend of the Byrd family from Columbus, broke down. “Oh God, oh no, oh God,” she cried. Arms steadied her.

        At least 100 people found their way to the prison parking lot Tuesday morning to protest the execution of Mr. Byrd. They chanted and prayed, held signs and sang. They spoke about what they saw as the inhumanity of capital punishment.

        They bundled against the morning chill and lit candles. The largest was lit in memory of Monte Tewksbury, the Colerain Township man Mr. Byrd was convicted of killing in 1983.

        Among them were students from St. Xavier High School in Springfield Township, a nun from Cincinnati, a former Cincinnati mayor and congressman, a Xavier University student; and friends of the Byrd family from Columbus.

        “Killing is wrong,” said Stephan Dixon, 16, a St. Xavier junior from Delhi Township, who was there with about 10 students from the school who made the trip by van. “I think killing a person to show killing is wrong is a contradiction.”

        Tom Luken, a former congressman and Cincinnati mayor and father of Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, stood in the parking lot and lifted his chin in the direction of the yellow barricade tape that cordoned off the area.

        “I think there's an irony in that crime scene tape there,” said Mr. Luken, dressed in a dark suit and bright red sweater. “A crime occurred here. The state sanctioned murder.”

        Stephan Dixon turned to return to the van and the drive to Cincinnati.

        “I'm filled with emotions, so many emotions,” said Stephan. “I didn't even know the guy, so that should be a clue that the death penalty just isn't right.”

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