Ohio executes man for killing store owner in ’92

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Gregory Bryant-Bey

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a 60-day reprieve.

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An inmate who believed he was framed was executed by lethal injection Wednesday for the 1992 fatal stabbing of a collectibles store owner. It was Ohio’s second execution in two months.

Gregory Bryant-Bey, 53, died at 10:41 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. In a three-minute final statement, Bryant-Bey said he was framed, was convicted on the basis of false evidence and had poor legal help.

“My brothers and sisters wonder what can be done to protect their sisters and brothers and children and friends from being framed, lied on and convicted on invisible evidence,” he said, lying on a gurney and reading as a prison staff member held the handwritten statement.

“We have to pray that they live a life consistent with the truth and love doing right.”

Bryant-Bey’s execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his request for a 60-day reprieve. He had wanted more time to present additional information about his case to Gov. Ted Strickland, who denied clemency Tuesday.

Bryant-Bey was the second inmate put to death in Ohio since the end of an unofficial national moratorium on executions that began last year while the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Kentucky’s lethal injection procedure.

He was convicted in the Aug. 9, 1992, robbery and killing of Dale Pinkelman, who owned a sports collectibles and coin shop. Bryant-Bey also faced a death penalty in the Nov. 2, 1992, killing of Peter Mihas, owner of The Board Room restaurant in downtown Toledo.

After police arrested Bryant-Bey for Mihas’ death, similarities between the two crimes led to charges in Pinkelman’s slaying. A jury recommended life in prison for Bryant-Bey in the Mihas killing.

After the execution, Jay Clark, a son-in-law of Pinkelman’s, thanked detectives, judges and others involved in Bryant-Bey’s conviction.

“This is a difficult day. There aren’t any winners on either side,” Clark said.

The state has now executed 28 inmates since 1999, when Ohio renewed executions after more than three decades.