Biros execution halted again

Biros got a chance for personal contact with his family Monday evening.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LUCASVILLE -- Killer Kenneth Biros ate pizza and visited with family on the eve of what could be his last full day alive.
Biros, 48, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. today for murder with sexual counts in a grisly crime in Trumbull County in February 1991. A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati refused the state's request to lift a lower court's order against the execution, saying Biros should be able to continue appealing a lawsuit with other inmates arguing that Ohio's method of lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.
However, Ohio prison workers still prepared for the execution because the state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a ruling to allow the lethal injection.
Biros arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, the site of the death chamber, at 9:45 a.m. Monday.
He was transported from the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown and spent most of the day sleeping or listening to music in the death house, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. His mental state and physical health were checked on arrival.
"He's been sleeping most of the day," she said about 4:30 p.m. Monday. "He hasn't watched any television at all. He has a personal CD player that he's been listening to, but I don't know what kind of music." At 4 p.m. he ate his "special meal," she said.
Visitors
His mother, two sisters, brother and a family friend arrived at the facility about 4:45 p.m. Monday They were to visit with Biros in an open room, where holding hands, hugging, taking pictures and talking are allowed.
"They'll be able to stay together until 8 o'clock tonight [Monday]," Dean said Monday afternoon.
Afterward, Biros was to return to his holding cell for the night. He was allowed to watch television or make collect phone calls to any friends or family who would accept the charges.
At 6 a.m., he was to be awakened and offered breakfast (standard menu for all inmates, which includes corn flakes, waffles and syrup, milk and fruit juice) and a chance to shower.
From 6:30 until about 8 a.m., he could visit with family members through his cell door (no physical contact allowed), Dean said. His attorney and a spiritual adviser could be on hand until about 9 a.m. today, after which preparation for the execution process was to begin.
Preparations
The execution process involves the reading of the death warrant by the warden, the insertion of shunts into the inmate's arms and a 17-step walk from his holding cell to the execution chamber.
The ultimate process takes six to eight minutes and involves the intravenous injection of three drugs: one to put the inmate to sleep, one to stop breathing and one to stop heart activity.
Inmates are given ample time to make a final statement.
"We don't stop him," Dean said. "The longest one we've had is nine minutes. We never stop an inmate from saying what they want to say."
She added, "[Biros] doesn't have one yet, but that doesn't mean he won't have one tomorrow."
A county coroner, in the chambers for the process, would provide the exact time of death. The body later would be turned over to family members.
The death warrant expires at midnight tonight. If the stay remains in place, Biros would be transported back to the Youngstown prison to await further legal action.
If the execution takes place, it would be the 25th in the state since 1999, Dean said.
Meanwhile, Engstrom's sister, Debi Heiss, who traveled to Lucasville on Monday with her mother and brother, said she is keeping her hopes up that the work of Attorney General Marc Dann will clear the way for the execution to proceed this morning.
"People should remember that Jeffrey Lundgren's stay of execution was lifted at 11:30 at night," she said of a previous Ohio inmate who was executed after a similar delay.