John Roe was executed by the State of Ohio for the murder of Donette Crawford
According to court documents Donette Crawford would disappear after going to a store. John Roe was arrested a month later on a separate charge and would try to make a deal by offering information on the Donette Crawford who he blamed on someone else. However when police looked closer at his story they realized he was responsible. Roe would lead police to an area where the body of Donette Crawford was found along with evidence linking Roe to the murder
John Roe would be convicted and sentenced to death
John Roe would be executed by lethal injection on February 3 2004
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When Was John Roe Executed
John Roe was executed on February 3 2004
John Roe Case
The state on Tuesday executed a convicted killer for shooting a young mother 20 years ago, making him the second condemned inmate to argue unsuccessfully that the state’s chemical injection was cruel and unusual punishment. Guards needed about 20 minutes to insert shunts to carry a deadly mixture of muscle relaxant and a heart-stopping drug into John Glenn Roe’s veins. He was pronounced dead at 10:24 a.m., nearly a half-hour after his scheduled execution time.
John Roe, the 10th inmate to be put to death since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999, entered the death chamber at 10:12 a.m. after guards finally placed the shunts near his wrists. Despite the delay in inserting the shunts, which is viewed by witnesses, Roe remained calm throughout the execution. Inside the death chamber, Roe glared at the family of his victim, Donette Crawford, 20, of Columbus.
Asked if he had any final words, Roe maintained his innocence. He again accused prosecutors of lying and blamed a jailhouse snitch whose testimony helped to convict him. “God is my witness, and you’re killing an innocent man today,” Roe said. While Roe was looking at Crawford’s family, Donette Crawford’s sister Michelle patted her sweatshirt bearing a picture of Donette and whispered, “Look at her picture, buddy, right here.”
NewsChannel 4 learned that at 8:42 a.m., Roe wrote a letter that the warden sent to the Ohio Supreme Court. In the note, which is four sentences long, Roe asks for a stay based on a claim that he is retarded and never got a hearing, NewsChannel 4’s Nancy Burton reported. At 9:57 a.m., the Ohio Supreme Court faxes the warden a response denying the claim.
Roe’s execution was the first since Lewis Williams struggled with guards in the death chamber before his execution on Jan. 14. Williams also argued the constitutionality of the state’s use of Pavulon, a muscle-paralyzing drug that stops an inmate’s breathing. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Roe’s request for a stay of execution, which was based on the argument that Ohio’s method of execution causes undue pain. Roe had no other motions pending. Williams claimed in his appeal that Pavulon may not render the inmate unconscious while a drug that would stop his heart is injected. Some states won’t let such a mixture be used to put down animals because of concerns about unnecessary pain by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Roe grabbed Crawford from her car on the city’s west side in 1984, choked, then shot and robbed her, court records show. She was the mother of a 9-month-old girl. Roe became “cranky” with guards assigned to execute him Tuesday morning and was emotional with family members, a prisons spokeswoman said. Roe, 41, arrived Monday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility from death row in Mansfield. His final dinner, referred to as a “special meal” by prison officials, was a medium-well T-bone steak with steak sauce, onion rings, macaroni and cheese, butter-pecan ice cream and root beer. He ate roast beef and ham sandwiches later Monday but refused breakfast Tuesday morning, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Roe slept from about 3:10 a.m. to 5:46 a.m., Dean said.
Roe grew irritable when he found out that the Supreme Court turned down his appeal but seemed to accept he would die, Dean said. Roe’s mother, Joyce Lucas, and her husband, Henry, were at the prison Tuesday but did not witness the execution. His attorney and spiritual adviser were his witnesses. Crawford’s father, Don; and her fiance, Steve Steiner, also attended.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday turned down Roe’s request to postpone the execution. Roe’s public defenders also said two 6th Circuit senior judges should not have been allowed to rule on his request for a delay last month. The appeals court refused to reconsider its decision. Roe claimed he was innocent of Crawford’s murder. He said he was robbing a video game store on the other side of town at the time of Crawford’s abduction. His lawyers did not bring up that claim during his clemency hearing on Jan. 8.
Roe was arrested for breaking and entering at a Radio Shack in suburban Dayton one month after Crawford’s slaying. He was on parole and afraid of going back to prison, so he told Beavercreek police where Crawford’s body could be found, he said. He said he figured he could reach a deal that would keep him out of prison. He said he found Crawford’s body while looking for cement blocks to put around a fireplace. He said he had kept quiet because he knew he’d draw police attention to his record.
