On May 13, Michael Bueke was executed by lethal injection 20 years after his conviction and sentencing. He had appealed his sentence to the Ohio Supreme Court and for clemency from Governor Ted Strickland, both of which were denied. He was pronounced dead at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility minutes before 11 a.m. In 1983, he killed one man and shot two others and was apprehended soon after. He was convicted various months later, and sentenced to death.
Michael Bueke – The Mad Hitchhiker
Michael Bueke was hitchhiking in Ohio in the spring of 1983. He flagged down Gregory Wahoff, then pulled a gun on him and forced him to drive to a rural area. Wahoff fled when Bueke forced him to turn over the car, and was shot in the head and also the back. He was paralyzed from the wounds. Not long afterwards, the body of Robert Craig was found in a ditch. The weapon was found to be the same used to shoot Wahoff. Bueke later got a ride from Bruce Graham, who was also robbed of his automobile and shot. Death row inmates cost a lot more to house securely, and also the lengthy appeals process means far a lot more cost to taxpayers to execute an inmate instead of just put him in lockup.
Quick conviction
Michael Bueke was quickly convicted of the shootings and the slaying. As outlined by the Associated Press, he needed a car to rob a bank in order to pay for a lawyer to defend him on then pending drug charges. His defense attorneys appealed on the grounds that he had sustained brain damage, and that was partially responsible for his actions. When awaiting execution on death row, he converted to Catholicism. He expressed a great deal of remorse for his crimes.
Clemency not of course by Governor Strickland
Bueke appealed to Governor Ted Strickland for clemency, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Strickland sided with the parole board, and was previously a psychologist in Ohio state prisons. The presiding judge within the original conviction, Norbert Nadel, has said the sentence was long overdue, and there was never question over guilt. Michael Bueke is the fifth inmate to be executed in Ohio for this year, and the 14th in Strickland’s tenure overall. Since Ohio reinstated capital punishment in 1999, this execution makes number 38.
Citations
Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h18cDX6PuFXpdEc3JIHpQRFMapvAD9FM1FTG0
Cincinnati Enquirer
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100512/NEWS010702/5130314/Beuke+denied+clemency
