Ohio executes man who gunned down ex-wife

This was the first execution carried out under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A man who lost attempts to challenge the state's lethal injection method was executed Tuesday for chasing his ex-wife into a neighbor's house, dragging her into a bedroom and fatally shooting her in the head 13 years ago.
James Filiaggi, 41, a death row volunteer who had given up his appeals in 2006 to speed up his sentence, reconsidered late last week and tried unsuccessfully to get the courts to delay his execution.
He died at 11:23 a.m. by injection, a process he had argued amounted to torture. The execution happened about an hour and a half later than scheduled at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility because prison officials had waited for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The high court and three other courts ruled against Filiaggi within the 24 hours before his execution. He had sought to join other Ohio inmates in a lawsuit over the constitutionality of lethal injection, contending that the method constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
In he final statement, Filiaggi took a shot at the death penalty, saying many innocent inmates are on death row.
"For me -- it's fine," he said.
He gave a thumbs up to his family as he was being strapped to a table and later smiled and repeated the gesture with his spiritual adviser, a Roman Catholic priest.
"I want to say thanks to my family for all the support," he said. "I'm sorry I flipped up the world."
Background
Filiaggi had a strained relationship with Lisa Huff Filiaggi, whom he married in 1991. She filed for divorce nine months later and received custody of their two young girls when the divorce was granted in 1993.
James Filiaggi, who has a history of domestic violence, chased his ex-wife through her Lorain neighborhood on Jan. 24, 1994, then followed her into a neighbor's house and shot her.
Attorneys for Filiaggi entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, arguing that a brain disorder made him unable to control anger-filled outbursts. Prosecutors said he knew right from wrong. A three-judge panel in Lorain County convicted him of aggravated murder and other charges in 1995.
The victim's mother, cousin and fianc & eacute; at the time of her death witnessed the execution.
Legal challenges to the use of lethal injection have been filed in several states with mixed results. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court delayed the execution of another inmate in Ohio after he joined the same lawsuit.
Other executions in Ohio have been delayed in the past year because of the suit, although a former cult leader also was put to death despite his appeal.
First for Strickland
This was the first execution carried out under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, who took office in January. Strickland denied clemency last week, even though Filiaggi didn't ask for his life to be spared.
Filiaggi was the 25th inmate that Ohio put to death since resuming executions in 1999, all under former Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican.
The Filiaggi's daughters, now 16 and 14, are being raised by James Filiaggi's younger brother, Anthony, in Elyria.
In a note to the Ohio Parole Board, 14-year-old Jasmin Filiaggi wrote that she had no sympathy for her father.
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