Muslim convert executed for killing Arab carryout owner

LUCASVILLE, OHIO — The Toledo Blade reports that state put to death today a Toledo man convicted of killing a Toledo carryout owner during a robbery 17 years ago.

Vernon Smith, 37, became the second person executed under Ohio's new one-drug method this morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Smith, also known as Adbullah Shariff Kaazim Mahdi, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m. from a single does of sodium thiopental.

Smith was convicted in 1993 of killing Sohail Darwish,28, at Woodstock Market in central Toledo.

Darwish's widow and two teenage daughters were witness to Smith's execution. His second daughter, at the age of 16, becomes the youngest person on record to witness an execution in Ohio.

Smith, a converted Muslim, spent the morning of his planned execution inside a cell at the Lucasville death house performing cleansing rituals. For his last meal on Wednesday, Smith had dates and hot tea.