Ohio prepares to execute man who killed wife

A man is set to die tomorrow for murdering his wife, marking the first execution in Ohio since the state’s prison department changed capital punishment procedures.

Rocky Barton, 49, has given up appeals that could have delayed his execution for years, and says he deserves to die for killing his wife, Kimbirli Jo, in 2003 when she said she was ending their 18-month marriage.

The state has changed its lethal injection procedure since May, when staff members had problems finding the vein in a condemned man’s arm.

They will now try to find two injection sites and are using a new method to make sure the veins stay open once entryways are inserted.

Barton was today driven about 140 miles from a prison in Mansfield to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, which houses Ohio’s death chamber, prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean said.

A judge ruled last week that Barton was competent to give up his appeals. Barton did not seek clemency from Gov Bob Taft

Barton admitted hiding a shotgun in a garage and shooting his wife when she arrived to pick up some of her belongings at the couple’s home about 35 miles north-east of Cincinnati.

At his trial, Barton urged jurors to recommend the death sentence.

Barton would be the third inmate executed this year and the 22nd since Ohio resumed carrying out executions in 1999.