Ohio Governor denies man clemency

Governor of Ohio Bob Taft today denied clemency for a convicted killer who has chosen the electric chair over lethal injection to illustrate the brutality of capital punishment.

John W Byrd Junior, 37, would be the first Ohio inmate to be electrocuted since 1963 if he is executed as scheduled on Wednesday.

He claims he is innocent of the murder of a 40-year-old store clerk in a 1983 Cincinnati robbery.

Taft said he reviewed the trial record and appeals, which so far have been denied, and took into account Byrd’s claim of innocence.

The Ohio prisons director recommended last July that the prison’s 104-year-old electric chair be retired due to possible malfunctions that could endanger staff.