William Zuern was executed by the State of Ohio for a prison murder
According to court documents William Zuern was incarcerated awaiting for trial for murder when he would stab a correctional guard Phillip Pence with a homemade knife
William Zuern would be convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Phillip Pence and sentenced to life for the initial murder of Gregory Earls
William Zuern would be executed by lethal injection on June 8 2004
William Zuern Photos
William Zuern FAQ
When Was William Zuern Executed
William Zuern was executed on June 8 2004
William Zuern Case
William G. Zuern, formerly of Price Hill, died at 10:04 this morning for the murder of a Hamilton County jailer. Zuern was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of Hamilton County corrections officer Phillip Pence 20 years ago tomorrow.
The 45-year-old died six minutes after two lethal drugs — pancuronium bromide to stop his breathing and potassium chloride to stop his heartbeat — began flowing into his veins. His death was a peaceful one. His chest heaved several times, and his lips parted with slightly labored breathing for several minutes before his breathing stopped forever. Zuern’s face and shaved head turned lightly purple before prison officials drew a curtain between Zuern and the witnesses at 10:03 a.m. After a prison doctor performed a quick examination, the curtain was reopened and Warden James Haviland drew a microphone to his mouth and said, “Time of death 10:04 a.m.”
U.S. District Judge Walter Rice, ruling in Dayton, had issued a stay in the execution order Monday, but that was vacated by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The full appeals court then rejected a request from Zuern’s attorneys that it intervene in the case. Attorneys did not at tempt to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which would have been Zuern’s only hope to live another day.
Zuern’s death was not enough for co-workers and relatives of his victims. “William Zuern Jr. went too easy today. I believe that he should have died the way Phil died,” said Jeff Roush, a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy who witnessed the murder of his colleague and friend, Phillip Pence. “This case was nothing more than putting a mad dog to sleep,” he said. Rousch was unhappy that Zuern never met his glare. “I think he just cowarded his way out. We just glared at him (during his execution) but he wouldn’t look at us,” he said. Rousch’s thirst for vengeance was shared by Joseph Burton, another coworker who witnessed Pence’s murder, and family members of Zuern’s two murder victims — Pence and Gregory Earls, who Zuern fatally shot. “It was too easy on him. It was too easy,” said Sherry Behler, Pence’s half-sister, after witnessing the execution. Juanita Earls, the mother of Earls, Zuern’s first victim, said after the execution, “My son was murdered by William Zuern. I waited 20 years to see justice done for my son. For that, I’m grateful. He died more merciful than my son and Phillip Pence died. He was an animal.”
William Zuern was placed on his back on a padded table to be prepped for his death. Technicians placed shunts into both of his outstretched arms as Zuern alternately closed his eyes and narrowly opened them. His face remained stoic throughout the process, which took several minutes and caused him to bleed visibly out of his right arm. He was dressed in a prison-issued white shirt, blue pants with red stripes running down each side, and white socks. He wore his own brown hiking boots. His head was shaven, and he wore a thick beard without a moustache. Zuern complied with every command, lifting his hands to be placed in handcuffs before he was led into the death chamber. The chamber was dimly lit with a tiled floor and cinder block walls painted white.
Warden Haviland picked up a microphone and asked, “Mr. Zuern, do you have any last statement you would like to make?” “Nope,” was Zuern’s terse reply as he continued to stare at the ceiling. He never turned to see witnesses in either of two small rooms that were separated by from the death chamber by windows. Haviland gave a secret command at 9:58 a.m. to begin injecting the drugs, and two officials turned on IVs to begin pouring drugs into his veins. Only one of the two cocktails contained the lethal drugs, and neither operator knew which one was real and which was harmless, according to Dean. Within two minutes, Zuern’s breathing became faint, and within three, breathing was no longer visible. By 10:01, his head began turning purple. After Zuern was pronounced dead, witnesses were led back through a courtyard where a black Cadillac hearse awaited. Zuern was transported to a local funeral home and will be buried in a state-run cemetery adjacent to a prison in Chillicothe. His family did not have the means to arrange a private burial, Dean said.
William Zuern, who had been held on Death Row in Mansfield, arrived in Lucasville shortly after 1 p.m. Monday. He ate his last dinner about four hours later – mashed potatoes and gravy, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, garlic bread, corn, chocolate milk and cherry cheese cake. This morning he had four pancakes, cereal, orange juice and milk. He was offered a shower, but declined. He steadfastly refused to communicate with the preparation team. The team, designed to answer the condemned’s questions and take care of physical needs, said Zuern took extreme measures to avoid them. “He has gone as far as putting toilet paper in his ears,” a spokeswoman said this morning. He has also turned his back to the counselors, turned his face to the wall and stared at the ceiling, she said.
Two of his sisters, Ruby Simpkins and Ester Zuern, arrived today but he refused to see them. He spent a restless night Monday, falling asleep at about 10 p.m., but waking up several times throughout the evening. During his 20-year prison stay, Zuern never allowed a single visit by family or friends. Only his attorneys saw him, and he made no exception on the last day of his life. The sisters, both of the Dayton area, were turned away from the prison. Prison officials said he would meet with no spiritual adviser today. He had no witnesses on his behalf at the execution. “He doesn’t want any witnesses,” said Andrea Dean, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department for Rehabilitation and Correction. “Nobody will be there.”
Pence’s family had three witnesses: Behler, his half-sister, Rousch and Burton. At Zuern’s request, his last effects will be destroyed : five books, a radio, a typewriter, a fan, envelopes, toiletries, hot sauce, cocoa butter and garlic butter.
Outside the prison, death penalty opponents gathered and prayed. They set up signs of protest and drawings and photographs of previously executed Ohioans. Tina Bush, a member of the Cleveland Coalition Against the Death Penalty, has been active protesting capital punishment since 1999, when Ohio reinstated its death penalty. “We are against the execution of any people. I do not believe that because a person takes a life that the state should take another life. Two wrongs do not make a right, and all killing is wrong,” she said. Bush said her opposition to state-sanctioned killing is not meant as any lack of sympathy for victims. “Phillip Pence should not have died at William Zuern’s hand. William Zuern should not die at the state’s hand,” her hand-made sign read. The Rev. Neil Kookoothe, of St. Clarence Church in North Olmstead, said he was there to be a witness for Zuern’s fellow Death Row inmates who the Catholic priest counsels in Mansfield.
In a statement issued Monday, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who was a Hamilton County commissioner when Pence was killed, noted: “Mr. Zuern has never shown remorse for his crimes, and during his incarceration has engaged in other crimes and conduct violations, including the kidnapping and threatened murder of two corrections officers.” Taft noted Zuern, declined to participate in the clemency process, and his at torneys did not attend the clemency hearings. After thoroughly reviewing Zuern’s criminal record and convictions and recommendations from the Ohio Parole Board, county prosecutor’s office and sheriff’s office, “I can find no compelling reason to grant clemency,” Taft said. Messages left Monday for Zuern’s attorneys in Dayton and New Mexico were not returned.
After William Zuern was convicted of Pence’s aggravated murder, he had his defense attorneys read a statement in which he said it was his opinion that there was “no testimony I or anyone else could offer which would have any effect on this jury.” Zuern said he realized if he offered no mitigation evidence, the jury can come to but one decision, and that is death by electrocution. “I have no death wish, and I do not wish to die,” his statement added. “However it is not my nature to beg or crawl.” His attitudes toward the sentence since his arrival at Lucasville, where Ohio conducts all its executions, were not known, prison officials said. Zuern has not talked to prison officials about the matter. Rice overturned Zuern’s conviction in 2000, but the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit reinstated it in July.
William Zuern also is serving a life prison term for his guilty plea to fatally shooting a Lower Price Hill man. He had been awaiting trial on that slaying when county jail officials received a tip that Zuern had a homemade knife. Zuern was alerted that officers were coming to search the cell for the weapon and whenthey Arrived, he stabbed Pence in the chest with a dagger-like piece of metal he had fashioned from a bucket handle, officers said.
William Zuern is the fourth Ohioan executed this year, preceded by Lewis Williams of Cuyahoga County and Glenn Roe and William Wickline, both of Franklin County. There are now 208 inmates on death row in Mansfield, including one woman. Eleven people have been executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in February 1999. More than half the condemned are black, according to the states figures. Blacks number 104, with 98 whites, three Hispanics and four whose race was listed as other on Death Row.