On
this date, June 8, 2004, a Prison killer, William G. Zuern, Jr. was executed by
lethal injection in Ohio for the June 9, 1984 murder of Philip Pence, a Hamilton
County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was such a dangerous person to be kept alive, he
can even murder people behind bars. I got the information from
clarkprosecutor.org. I would like to rebut the protestor, Tina Bush’s ideas.
William
G. Zuern
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Inmate: William G. Zuern
Race: White
Gender: Male
DOB: 12/5/58
County of Conviction: Hamilton
Received at DOC: 10/05/84
Offenses: COERCION. AGGRAVATED MURDER, AGGRAVATED MURDER
William
G. Zuern, 45, was convicted of killing a Hamilton County sheriff's jail officer
in 1984. Zuern was found guilty of aggravated murder for stabbing officer Phillip
Pence in the chest on June 9, 1984, with a dagger-like piece of metal.
In
July of 2003, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lower court
ruling in favor of Zuern, which could have provided a new trial for him.
Hamilton County sheriff's officers said they received a tip from another
prisoner that Zuern had a homemade knife in his cell and that he had threatened
to kill a prisoner. When officers arrived to search for the weapon, Zuern, who
had been told they were coming, stabbed Pence, officers said. Prosecutors said
he had prior intent to kill the officer. A prisoner who testified as a
prosecution witness said that several weeks before the stabbing, he saw Zuern
sharpening part of a metal bucket hook and heard Zuern express hostility toward
jail officers for not allowing him a full five minutes of telephone time.
UPDATE:
For nearly 20 years, a former jailhouse officer has carried a copy of the death
warrant for the man convicted of murdering one of his best friends, hoping to
one day witness the man's execution. "That would be kind of a cathartic
way of closing the book on this," Gary Roush said Monday. The Ohio Supreme
Court has set a June 8 execution date for William G. Zuern, 45, who killed
jailer Phillip Pence with a homemade knife on June 9, 1984. A federal judge has
put the execution on hold. While an appeals court considers whether to let the
state proceed, the Ohio Parole Board holds a hearing Tuesday in Columbus to
determine whether to recommend that Gov. Bob Taft grant clemency. "I was
at several days of the trial, including the death penalty phase, and what Zuern
said has stuck in my head for 20 years," Roush said. "He said, 'I
have no desire to beg or plead; do with me what you will.' "He waived all
mitigating factors. It was kind of like a spit in the eye. I'd tell the parole
board, why not fulfill his wishes?" Roush plans to attend Zuern's
execution, if the appeals court allows it to go forward. "Our policy is
family members have the first option," said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "If they choose not to
attend, they can name a friend or someone who has something to do with the
case."
Roush
was a 22-year-old jailer at the Community Correctional Institution, a Civil
War-era prison known as "the Workhouse," when Zuern killed Pence.
Roush, Pence and two other jailers, acting on a tip, had gone to "A"
block to inspect two cells for weapons just after the 10 p.m. lockdown. They
found Zuern standing in his cell, naked, Roush said. When the cell door swung
open, Zuern lunged at Pence. "I was only about 6 feet away from him when
he was killed," Roush said. "I saw everything."
Prosecutors
got a quick conviction, and Roush was not asked to testify at Zuern's trial. He
left the Hamilton County sheriff's department in 1990 to work in the suburban
Miami Township police department in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati.
Pence's only local relative, half sister Sherry Behler, said she would not
attend the clemency hearing because her husband was scheduled for medical
tests. She said Roush would read her letter to the parole board. "I
understand there are people in jail who are innocent," Behler said.
"With DNA testing and all they have now, those people often go free. I
feel with him, with all those eyewitnesses, the appeals shouldn't have gone on
so long." Behler said she would make it to Zuern's execution, if that
occurs. "His first execution date was Feb. 5, 1985," she said.
"He should have gone ahead and taken his punishment at that time."
Court
records show that Zuern fashioned a dagger-like knife, known as a shank, out of
a bucket hook and used it to stab Pence in the chest. Another jailer slammed
the cell door shut, locking Zuern inside, as deputies helped Pence to a picnic
table where inmates played cards. "All we saw at first was a little bitty
spot of blood on his T-shirt. I said, 'Damn, Phil, you got stuck,'" Roush
said. "He turned ash gray and his knees buckled." Roush learned later
that the shank had pierced three holes in Pence's heart. Zuern was convicted of
aggravated murder and sentenced to death for killing Pence. But he also is
serving a life prison term for his guilty plea to fatally shooting a Cincinnati
man, Gregory Earls, 24. Zuern was awaiting trial for the shooting when he stabbed
Pence, a month after shooting Earls. Defense attorney Kate McGarry has declined
to say if Zuern has any living relatives, or what attorneys would present at
the clemency hearing. In past appeals, the defense has argued that prosecutors
failed to turn over a memo that would have indicated that Zuern wanted to kill
a fellow prisoner, rather than a jailer. They contend that would have showed
the lack of premeditation needed for a capital conviction.
REBUTTAL
TO TINA BUSH:
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.
<>
Rebuttal: Were you praying for
the murdered victims and their families when their loved ones were murdered?
Rather than disgracing yourselves by showing photos of previous executed
Ohioans, show photos of the innocent unborn babies and photos of murdered
victims.
I wonder if they
would bother doing that at the embassies of the following countries for these
criminals:
Indian Embassy for Ajmal Kasab?
People hold a placard and pictures of
Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, as they celebrate in Ahmedabad November 21, 2012.
REUTERS/Amit Dave |
Indonesian Embassy for Amrozi?
Iran Embassy for The Black Vultures?
Japanese Embassy for their violent criminals?
United Arab Emirates Embassy
for Al Rashidi?
Will they cry for the Eight Executed Terrorists?
Will they moan and groan for Nazi War Criminals?
Nazi War Criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.
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<<
"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.>>
Rebuttal: All killing is
wrong? It is better to tell that those abortionists (who kill the innocent
unborn babies) and those criminal rights activists who let the murderers go
free to kill. You need to teach that killing is wrong to murderers and not to
the State who is protecting its people. Are you going to tell the Seal Team Six members that it was wrong to assassinate Osama Bin Laden? Are you telling our
soldiers not to fire at enemy soldiers if America was invaded?
If
you truly have sympathy for victims, please hear what the late President Ronald Reagan said.
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