Ohioan who killed a shop owner moved to death house

COLUMBUS (AP) — A condemned inmate who shot and killed a Toledo carry-out owner in 1993 has been moved from death row to the death house as the state prepares for his execution.

Vernon Smith, 37, arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville at 9:45 a.m. today, said prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn. Smith legally changed his name to Abdullah Shariff Kaazim Mahdi after his arrest.

He is expected to be executed Thursday, the second prisoner to be put to death using Ohio’s unique one-drug lethal injection method.

Smith awaits Gov. Ted Strickland’s decision regarding clemency. He has no pending legal appeals.

Smith was sentenced to death for killing 29-year-old Sohail Darwish, an immigrant raised in Saudi Arabia.