Killer Biros has date with death Dec. 8

By Marc Kovac

The Brookfield murderer will have a clemency hearing in coming months.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court has set the execution date for a Trumbull County man convicted in a brutal 1991 murder.

Kenneth Biros, 50, formerly of Brookfield, is scheduled for lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility on Dec. 8, according to high court documents released Wednesday.

He will have a clemency hearing before the state parole board in coming months. That board and Gov. Ted Strickland denied clemency following a similar hearing in January 2007.

Biros was convicted in the February 1991 murder of Tami Engstrom, a 22-year-old woman who he offered to drive home from a Masury bar.

The victim was murdered, mutilated and dismembered, with parts of her body scattered in two Pennsylvania counties as well as in Brookfield, according to documents.

It will be Biros’ second trip to Lucasville. He was transferred to the death house at the state prison two years ago, where he ate his special last meal and visited with family members. But the execution was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a federal case challenging Ohio’s lethal-injection protocol.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins filed a motion in April to set the execution date, arguing that Biros had exhausted all state and federal remedies.

But legal counsel for Biros argued against setting the date, stating in court filings that he is still a party to the federal lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the state’s execution process.

Counsel also argued that Biros had not been properly charged with an offense allowing the death penalty.

Biros remains on Ohio’s Death Row in the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County prosecutor, said he is happy with the way that Gov. Strickland has handled Death Row cases since he became governor in 2007, examining each case individually, granting clemency in some cases but refusing clemency in others.

Since he took office, five men have been executed: James Filiaggi of Lorain County, Christopher Newton of Montgomery County, Richard Cooey of Summit County, Gregory Bryant-Bey of Lucas County, and Daniel Wilson of Lorain County. Wilson was executed on Wednesday.

Strickland granted clemency and commuted the death sentences of Jeff Hill and John Spirko to life prison sentences.

There have been 28 executions in Ohio since 1981, Watkins said.

In addition to Biros having an execution date, another Trumbull County man, Jason Getsy, is also scheduled to die by legal injection. His execution date is Aug. 18, with a clemency hearing before the Ohio parole board set for July 9 to determine whether the execution will proceed.

Debi Heiss of Hubbard, Tami Engstrom’s sister, said she hopes the execution takes place this time so that she, her mother, MaryJane Heiss, and other family members don’t have to experience the same disappointment they faced in March 2007, when the execution was stayed at the last minute.

Tami Engstrom’s father, James Heiss, died last October, and the health of Engstrom’s mother, MaryJane Heiss, has worsened, Debi Heiss said.

She said dealing with the punishment for Biros has been like having to battle cancer for the past 20 years.

“It goes away and comes back. It consumes you,” she said, adding that she believes in the death penalty but wishes that it would be meted out more quickly.

CONTRIBUTOR: Vindicator Staff writer Ed Runyan