LUCASVILLE — One of the last things convicted serial killer Alton Coleman asked for Thursday in the hours before his execution this morning was that his remains be returned to his native Illinois.

        The state granted the request for the 46-year-old from Waukegan, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. for the 1984 beating death of Marlene Walters, 44, of Norwood. He also was convicted of three other murders in a multistate crime spree and has been sentenced to death in Indiana and Illinois.

        Also Thursday, Mr. Coleman received the largest final dinner of anyone who has been executed in Ohio.

        The meal consisted of filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms, sweet potato pie with whipped cream, butter pecan ice cream, biscuits with brown gravy, broccoli with cheese, french fries, cherry Coke, green lettuce salad with French dressing, collard greens, onion rings, fried chicken breast and corn bread. “He's in a calm mood. He's watching some religious tapes. He is very hopeful his family will arrive soon,” said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

        The religious tapes are of Dallas-based televangelist T.D. Jakes, the pastor former Reds outfielder Deion Sanders credits with saving him.

        Late Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to delay Mr. Coleman's execution. The court entered an order denying a stay of execution.

        Earlier in the day, state and federal courts rejected other appeals to delay the execution and to prevent it from being televised within the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

        Mr. Coleman was taken to the death house here from Mansfield Correctional Facility.

        He was told he would have what prison officials call a “contact visit” with his family and spiritual advisers from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

        Three judges of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati turned down Mr. Coleman's claim that he had ineffective counsel during his trial in the Walters case.

        Hours later, the full 6th Circuit court rejected a request for a rehearing.

        The Ohio Supreme Court rejected Mr. Coleman's appeal of a ruling earlier Thursday that allowed the state to proceed with plans to closed-circuit telecast his execution to accomodate victims' families.

        In Cincinnati, 6th Circuit Judges Gilbert Merritt, James Ryan and Danny Boggs unanimously ruled that the ineffective-lawyer argument had been rejected in 1998 and they saw no merit in Mr. Coleman's new appeal.

        A brief statement by the full court said that none of the active judges supported Mr. Coleman's petition.

        Because there are so many witnesses from the families of Mr. Coleman's victims, the state plans to let them watch the execution from a via closed-circuit television in a room of the prison.

        Mr. Coleman's attorneys say the telecast shouldn't be allowed because state law prohibits broadcasting equipment at executions and says only three people to be chosen by the victim's family can be witnesses.

        Relatives of Mrs. Walters — including her husband, Harry, and sons-in-law, Scott Lillard and Michael Blunt — will witness the execution inside the death house.

        Mr. Coleman is the only current inmate to face death sentences in three states, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.

        Mr. Coleman's accomplice, Debra Brown, 39, was sentenced to death in Ohio for her part in the four-state murder rampage, but then-outgoing Gov. Richard Celeste commuted her term to life in prison in 1991.

        The Associated Press contributed to this report.
       

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