Ohio executes man who set woman on fire

Ohio executes man who set woman on fire

New procedures were used in Wednesday’s execution of the Lorain killer.

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Roughly nine minutes before Daniel Wilson was pronounced dead Wednesday, the warden overseeing his execution stood by his right side, shook his shoulder, pinched his arm, and called his name.

The procedure — to check that a sedative has taken full effect — is part of a new set of execution procedures adopted by Ohio.

Phillip Kerns, warden of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, made a similar check of inmates executed in October and November, said spokeswoman Andrea Carson.

The state formally added the procedure to its execution policy last month. The revised policy also allows executioners to administer a second dose of sedative if it’s deemed the inmate isn’t sufficiently unconscious. The second dose was available for the first time Wednesday, Carson said. It was not used.

Wilson was sentenced to death for the 1991 slaying of acquaintance Carol Lutz, 24. He locked Lutz in the trunk of her car and set it on fire after they spent several hours drinking together at a bar near Cleveland.

“I’m very sorry for hat I did to Carol, and to my family, I’m sorry things turned out this way,” Wilson, 39, said in a final statement. “I believe in Jesus. He’s my lord and savior, and I’m coming home.”

Kerns pronounced Wilson dead at 10:33 a.m.

Carol Lutz’s mother, Martha Lutz, said the execution ended a long, hard road for her family.

“We have waited 18 years 29 days for this to happen. It finally has come and we thank God,” she said, standing with her husband, son and daughter-in-law after the execution. “People may think we’re cruel, but the cruel part of this is not being able to have Christmas with Carol ever again.”

The state’s revision to its lethal injection protocol came in May following legal challenges to the process, including a pending federal lawsuit alleging the system is unconstitutional because inmates could experience severe pain. A federal judge ruled in April that Ohio’s execution process is flawed but does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation.

Wilson was calm during the execution process, and family members of Lutz, as well as a witnesses for Wilson, were silent and motionless as they watched.

Wilson’s attorneys had sought to avoid his execution, telling the Ohio Parole Board he was beaten as a child by an alcoholic father who would handcuff him to a chair.