Ohio administers justice in executing Kenneth Biros

Ohio administers justice in executing Kenneth Biros

Kenneth Biros declared himself ready to meet his maker Tuesday, though it is worth noting that he did so only after exhausting every possible appeal and delaying the moment of justice for 18 years.

A man more confident in his salvation might have told his lawyers to stop fighting for him a long time ago.

Nonetheless, questions of Biros’ convictions and contrition are not of this world.

The state of Ohio executed Biros lawfully and efficiently, giving the family of his victim, Tami Engstrom, the closure they sought.

But it should be remembered that executions are not primarily a transaction between a criminal and his victim, or the victim’s family. It is a process whereby the state seeks justice for the people of Ohio.

Kenneth Biros was a violent, vicious killer who committed unspeakable acts against Tami Engstrom, a young woman whom he had volunteered to see home safely from a Masury bar, but the crime he was convicted of was committed against the state of Ohio.

And in Ohio, the legal and appropriate punishment for aggravated murder is death.

Justice delayed, but not denied

Biros managed through multiple appeals, including three that were denied by the Supreme Court of the United States, to forestall his punishment from the day of his conviction in 1991 until Tuesday. But, at long last, justice could no longer be denied.

There is irony in the line of the final appeals pursued for Biros by his lawyers — that his death by lethal injection might be so painfully cruel as to offend the Constitution of the United States.

In the end, the man who stabbed and cut Tami Engstrom more than 90 times suffered nine needle pricks before an intravenous line was established to administer the sedative that put Biros into a deep and final sleep.

It would be better if the state’s execution team could perfect its technique in finding a suitable vein. But whatever discomfort Biros may have felt in his final half hour, he was treated professionally and with respect throughout. That’s only appropriate given that the state’s interest is in administering justice, not revenge.

The death of Biros will now clear the way for others on Ohio’s death row to be brought to justice, many of whom treated their victims just as brutally as Biros did Tami Engstrom. There will always be those who believe that execution is barbaric, but most Ohioans recognize that there is a difference between the dispassionate justice administered by the state and the depravity of those murderers who, like Kenneth Biros, earned their place in Lucasville’s death chamber.