Family: Justice served to killer

Three family members of Mark Aaron Brown’s victims witnessed the execution.

Photo

Mark Aaron Brown

By MARC KOVAC

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — The sister of the Youngstown shop owner killed by Mark Aaron Brown said she hopes his execution sends a clear message to those considering a life of crime.

“As sad as this may be, and it’s very sad, justice has been served,” Terri Rasul told reporters after Thursday’s execution. “I just hope that this is a lesson for the young children today that they will not do what Mark [Aaron] Brown did to my brother.”

Brown, 37, was convicted in the 1994 shooting deaths of Isam Salman, Rasul’s brother, and Hayder Al-Turk at the Midway Market in Youngstown.

Brown made no final statement. He offered only a quiet “no” when asked if he had any last words, and he did not make eye contact with family members of his victims, his attorney or clergy who witnessed the execution.

Officials from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction pronounced Brown dead at 10:49 a.m.

He became the 35th inmate put to death since the state resumed executions in 1999, and the second from the Mahoning Valley in the last two months. Kenneth Biros of Trumbull County was executed in December for the slaying of Tami Engstrom.

Brown was the third inmate executed under the state’s new single-drug execution protocol.

He was transported Wednesday morning from the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, then spent most of afternoon and night talking on the phone with friends, his sister, his attorney and two of the mothers of his children, said Julie Walburn, spokeswoman for the DRC.

One call stretched from 2:14 a.m. until 4:49 a.m.

He had contact visits with his brother, his spiritual adviser and his attorney for several hours Wednesday evening. The atmosphere turned emotional at about 7 p.m. when he received word that Gov. Ted Strickland had denied his request for clemency.

Throughout the evening, he ate a special meal that included a bacon double cheeseburger, onion rings, orange soda and ice cream. He did not eat breakfast Thursday morning, nor did he touch the T-bone steak, cooked well done, that he had requested.

He slept from just before 5 a.m. until 6:20, when he showered and had cell-front visits with his spiritual adviser and two attorneys. He completed those visits after 8:30 and turned over his personal belongings to his legal counsel.

He laughed and joked with his visitors during the morning. He prayed with the prison chaplains and drank a cup of ice water before preparation for the lethal injection.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Brown’s appeals just after 9 a.m. Thursday, delaying the execution by about 20 minutes.

It took less than 10 minutes for prison staff to insert shunts into veins in both of Brown’s arms and for the inmate to make the final 17-step walk from his holding cell to the death chamber.

It took less than 10 minutes to complete the execution. Brown’s chest heaved, and he appeared to yawn before any discernible movement ceased.

The time frame was comparable to the two other executions that have been carried out under the state’s new single-drug protocol.

“This execution was carried out professionally and in accordance with the laws of the state of Ohio,” Walburn said. “It went as well as we expected it to go.”

Chester Phillips, spiritual adviser for Brown, and Atty. Rachel Troutman witnessed the execution on Brown’s behalf.

Seven members of Salman’s family were at the prison for the execution, and three witnessed his death — Rasul; brother Walid Salman; and one son, Majdy Salman. Rasul held a photograph while in the death chamber that appeared to be of the murder victims. They watched as Brown’s body was removed from the Death House and taken by hearse.

Brown requested that his body be cremated, with his ashes turned over to his sister.

Ohio has scheduled executions each month through September.

mkovac@dixcom.com