Killer apologizes to families of victims before execution

A brother of a victim met with the condemned man in his cell.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Glenn Benner apologized to the family of his victims Tuesday before being executed by lethal injection for the brutal rapes and murders of two women in Summit County in the mid-1980s.
Clad in blue pants with red stripes and a short-sleeved T-shirt, the 43-year-old Benner calmly strode into the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility shortly after 10 a.m.
Escorted by prisons officials, Benner got onto the execution table without assistance. He looked at his victims' families and nodded at his own family and supporters who were observing from behind windows nearby.
While prison Warden Edwin C. Voorhies held a microphone, Benner appeared remorseful to the families of his victims -- Cynthia Sedgwick and Trina Bowser.
"Trina and Cynthia were beautiful girls who didn't deserve what I'd done to them. They're in a better place," Benner said just before the drugs flowed into his veins.
How justice is served
First, prison officials say, sodium pentothal is injected to render the inmate unconscious; then, pancuronium bromide is injected to stop the inmate's breathing; and finally, potassium chloride is injected to stop the inmate's heart.
Benner appeared to look around. His eyes fluttered. His head nodded. His eyes finally closed.
Benner's aunt Mary Lou Silvers, who viewed the execution, appeared to sob and at one point dabbed at her eye with a tissue or handkerchief. A woman described as Benner's friend, Hilary Hughes of Ireland, as well as Benner's attorney, Kathleen McGarry of New Mexico, also witnessed Benner's end.
While Benner lay on the execution table, Bradley Bowser, Trina's brother who viewed the execution, said: "That won't get you into heaven, ace."
Also viewing the execution on the victims' behalf were Timothy and Randy Bowser, also Trina's brothers; James and Barbara Sedgwick, Cynthia's father and mother; and James Sedgwick Jr., Cynthia's brother. Prisons officials pronounced Benner dead at 10:15 a.m.
In a statement read by Scott Bowser, Trina's nephew, the Bowser family asked for a change to state law that only allows three witnesses per victim to view an execution.
"Out of six members of Trina's immediate family, only three were allowed to witness Benner's final statement to the family," Scott Bowser said. "We would like to see this law changed."
Earlier Tuesday, Rodney Bowser, another of Trina's brothers, was allowed to meet with Benner briefly while the condemned man was in his holding cell. Prison officials said it was the first time in a death-penalty case that such a cell-front visit has been permitted.
"He had questions he wanted answers to," Andrea Dean, a prison spokeswoman, said of Rodney Bowser. "We were told everything went smoothly."
Hughes, who prison officials described as Benner's pen pal, said Benner has expressed sorrow over the years for his actions. Benner, of Summit County, was convicted of multiple charges including aggravated murder in the deaths of Sedgwick in August 1985 near the Blossom Music Center in Northeast Ohio and Bowser in Akron in January 1986.
Prison officials said Benner had a "peaceful evening" Monday, the day he was moved to the SOCF from the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown, which houses death row.
Editor's note: Jeff Ortega was a media pool witness to Benner's execution.