Gov. Ted Strickland denied clemency today for Michael F. Beuke, 48, of West Price Hill, who is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the June 1, 1983, murder of Robert Craig Sr., who was 27.
Strickland agreed with a unanimous Ohio Parole Board that Beuke's death sentence should be carried out, despite testimony from friends, relatives and Catholic priests that Beuke was a changed person and helping other Death Row inmates at the Ohio State Penitentiary near Youngstown. Beuke has been transferred to Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville for the lethal injection.
Robert Craig's murder occurred along Interstate 275 during a series of shootings in which news reports described the gunman as the "mad hitchhiker." Beuke seriously injured 2 other drivers who picked him up along Cincinnati-area highways.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel, the judge who presided over Beuke's case, said his execution is long overdue, saying that if there was ever an Ohio murderer who deserved the death penalty it is Beuke. "Here we are almost 27 years later, and nothing has happened. The (death) sentence is long overdue to be carried out,'' Nadel said today. "There was never a question about his guilt.''
Barring a last-minute stay by the courts, Beuke will be the 5th inmate executed in Ohio this year, 14th since Strickland became governor in 2006 and 38th since executions resumed in Ohio in 1999 when Bob Taft was governor.
Susan Craig of Delhi Township, Craig's widow, is among the people listed as witnesses for Beuke's execution as is JoAnn Wahoff, wife of the late Gregory Wahoff, who was left paralyzed after Beuke shot him on May 14, 1983. Greg died in 2001. His son, Paul Wahoff, also planned to be a witness. Two Catholic bishops, George Murry and R. Dann Conlon; and Beuke's federal public defender, Dale Baich, also were set to witness the execution on his behalf, along with five news reporters.
A survivor of Beuke's shooting spree, Bruce P. Graham of Rising Sun, Ind., visited Beuke in prison recently and decided Beuke's life should be spared.
Strickland, a former prison psychologist, said he never counseled Beuke while working at the Lucasville prison where the execution is scheduled.
The Democrat, up for re-election this year, called the review of Death Row clemencies the toughest task he undertakes as governor. Strickland granted 1 death penalty reprieve, to Jeffrey Hill of Cincinnati, last year following the unanimous recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board. Hill's death sentence was commuted to 25 years to life in prison.
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer, May 12, 2010
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