Rocky Barton was executed by the State of Ohio for the murder of Kimbirli Jo Barton
According to court documents Rocky Barton married his wife Kimbirli Jo Barton while he was in prison for attempting to murder his former wife.
Rocky Barton and Kimbirli Jo Barton were in an argument and she would leave the home. Rocky convinced her to come back to get her things and when she showed up she would be fatally shot. Rocky attempted to take his own life however he screwed it up
Rocky Barton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Rocky Barton would be executed by lethal injection on July 12 2006, a little over three years after the murder
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When Was Rocky Barton Executed
Rocky Barton was executed on July 12 2006
Rocky Barton Case
A man who fatally shot his wife because she wanted to leave him was executed Wednesday in what prison officials say was a successful first test of lethal injection guidelines adopted after the last execution was plagued with problems. Two injection sites were established on Rocky Barton — one as a backup in case something went wrong with a vein — and the whole process went smoothly, prisons Director Terry Collins said.
Barton, 49, said he deserved execution and gave up his appeals that could have delayed his sentence for years. He died at 10:27 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
The state’s lethal injection protocol was changed after Joseph Clark’s execution in May, which was held up 90 minutes when prison staff struggled to find a useable vein and one they used collapsed. The state now requires staff to make every effort to find two injection sites and use a low-pressure saline drip to make sure the veins stay open once entryways are inserted. The execution team appeared more relaxed and less hurried after the new guidelines advised staff against feeling pressured to follow what had become an artificial, self-imposed timeframe to complete an execution quickly, Collins said. “I think that was the biggest thing,” Collins said. “I noticed a different relaxation.” Barton also was examined closely for any medical problems a day before his execution and again on Wednesday morning.
Previously, examinations of inmates before an execution consisted of a visual check of the inmate and a review of his medical file, according to a June report by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The May execution, when Clark asked prison staff to find another way to kill him, drew criticism from death penalty opponents who said the problems illustrated why the method of capital punish ment is cruel and unconsti tutional. It came amid a growing na tional debate about lethal in jection.
Barton was convicted of aggravated murder for shooting Kimbirli Jo Barton, 44, up close with a shotgun in 2003 outside their farmhouse while his 17-year-old stepdaughter watched. Kimbirli Jo had returned to get some belongings from the home in Waynesville, about 35 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
In his final statement, Barton turned to Kimbirli Jo’s son and two daughters and said: “I’m sorry for what I done, sorry for killing your momma and for what I done to you.” Kimbirli Jo Barton died in the arms of her daughter, Jamie Reising, who was allowed to leave a jail in Lebanon across the state to watch the execution. Reising is being held on a drug trafficking charge.
Barton told Kimbirli Jo’s son, Joseph Reynolds, not to let anger and hate toward him destroy his life, and he told his own mother, father and uncle he was sorry for bringing shame to the family. Just before the lethal drugs were administered, Barton said, “As Gary Gilmore said, Let’s do it.’ ” Gilmore, who was convicted in Utah of shooting two people, said the same thing before he became the first person put to death after a 1976 Supreme Court ruling that the death penalty was legal. He was executed Jan. 17, 1977, by firing squad.
Following Barton’s execution, Reising said she’s reaching the point where she can forgive Barton, but not yet. She said she doesn’t want to carry hate in her heart for the rest of her life. Barton, who did not seek clemency from Gov. Bob Taft, had asked the trial court to sentence him to death. A judge ruled last week that he was competent to give up his appeals.
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