Da'rryl Durr

COLUMBUS — A man convicted of murdering and raping a 16-year-old Elyria girl in 1988 had a Nov. 10 execution date set by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Darryl Durr, 45, of Cleveland, has been behind bars at the Ohio State Penitentiary since 1989 for Angel Vincent's murder.

Vincent's body was found by three boys playing in Brookside Park in Cleveland on April 30, 1998, wrapped in a blanket inside two orange traffic barrels that were placed open end-to-end underneath a railroad tie, according to a document filed by 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Her severely decomposed body was found roughly four months after she disappeared from her Elyria home on Jan. 31, 1988, according to the document.

Vincent's mother, Norma Jean O'Nan, and her husband returned to their home in Elyria that January evening to find the front door unlocked, the lights and television on and their daughter nowhere to be found.

Just 20 minutes before, O'Nan had spoken with her daughter on the phone and she said her friend, Deborah Mullins, was at the house. Later in the evening, Durr was coming to the house.

In September of 1988, after Durr was arrested on two unrelated rape charges, Mullins told Cleveland Police Department she had information about Vincent's case.

At trial, Mullins said she was picked up by Durr later on the evening of Jan. 31, 1988, and saw Vincent bound on the rear floorboard of the car.

When Mullins asked Durr why Vincent was on the floorboards, he replied he intended to "waste" her because she would tell, although he never revealed what she was going to tell.

Durr dropped off Mullins and her baby at his Cleveland apartment. Returning to the apartment later on, Durr showed Mullins a ring and bracelet that belonged to Vincent and later confessed he had strangled her with a dog chain and left her in the construction barrels by the railroad tracks.

Durr challenged his conviction on the grounds of procedural rulings, the court's failure to appoint an independent psychologist, ineffective assistance of counsel and sufficiency of evidence.

www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/06/04/news/mj1137365.txt

Ohio court rejects death delay for teen's killer

The Ohio Supreme Court won't stop the execution later this month of a death row inmate who raped and killed a 16-year-old girl.

The court also refused to hear Darryl Durr's appeal of a related request to conduct further DNA testing on evidence from the 1988 slaying.

The 46-year-old Durr had asked the court to delay his April 20 execution while he fought for more DNA testing and challenged Ohio's injection procedures in federal court.

The court on Monday denied his request for a delay and also turned down his request to have evidence retested.

Durr, of Elyria in Lorain County, was sentenced to die for raping and strangling 16-year-old Angel O'Nan in 1988.

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Condemned Ohio inmate allergic to anesthesia

A man scheduled to die next week for raping and strangling a 16-year-old girl wants to know what effect his allergy to anesthesia could have on his execution.
A doctor and expert on lethal injection is examining the records of condemned inmate Darryl Durr to determine the impact of the allergy on the injection of drugs meant to put Durr to death.
Kathleen McGarry, an attorney representing Durr, said Monday it's unclear how the single aesthetic that Ohio uses for executions or two drugs in a backup method might affect Durr.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost last week granted Durr's request to have an expert examine his medical records to resolve the issue.
Durr was sentenced to die for killing a girl in Elyria (eh-LEER'-ee-uh) girl in 1988.

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A condemned Ohio inmate who says he's allergic to anesthesia is undertaking what appears to be a unique legal maneuver, arguing that no one knows how his body will react if state officials are allowed next week to inject him with the one lethal drug they now use.

A doctor is studying what impact, if any, the allergy could have on the execution process after lawyers for Darryl Durr uncovered evidence of Durr's allergy in his 800-page prison medical record. Durr was sentenced to die for raping and strangling a 16-year-old girl in 1988.

"One of the things the Ohio Constitution guarantees is that he has a quick and painless execution," said defense attorney Kathleen McGarry.

"If he's going to react to the anesthetic drugs in such a manner that he's going to have a violent reaction, either vomiting or seizures or whatever the spectrum is that could happen, then obviously the execution has problems," she said.

McGarry said she doesn't know what drugs Durr is allergic to, or whether they include thiopental sodium, the anesthetic that Ohio uses to put inmates to death. The state last year became the first to switch to a single intravenous dose of anesthetic for executions instead of three drugs, a move followed by Washington state in March.

Ohio's untried backup method would inject a powerful sedative and painkiller into muscle, a combination that together is supposed to produce death.

The allergy could be an issue during the execution, according to lethal injection expert Mark Heath, who is reviewing Durr's records to determine whether there's a problem.

"An allergic or other adverse reaction to some component of a general anesthetic might present a serious problem for an execution by lethal injection," according to an e-mail from Heath, a Columbia University Medical Center anesthesiologist, that was filed in federal court as part of Durr's request.

However, "it would depend on the drug that precipitated the reaction and the nature of the reaction," Heath said.

McGarry would not allow Heath to be interviewed about his review.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost allowed Durr's medical records to be reviewed over the objection of the state. The Ohio attorney general's office argued the judge didn't have the authority to approve Durr's request for an expert of his choosing in a lawsuit against the state.

Heath's report is expected soon, given that Durr's execution is scheduled for Tuesday. Depending on the findings, Durr could use the results to try to stop or delay the execution, a request the state would likely oppose.

Death penalty experts say they're unaware of a similar issue being raised in the past, though strong reactions to lethal injection drugs have occurred. Most states generally begin the execution process with an anesthetic like the one Ohio uses alone.

In 1989, Texas death row inmate Stephen McCoy reacted violently to the chemicals and began choking and seizing, despite being restrained. A witness fainted, knocking over another witness. A state official later said a heavier dose might have been warranted.

In 1992 in Oklahoma, death row prisoner Robyn Lee Parks also had a violent reaction as the muscles in his jaw, neck, and abdomen began to spasm about two minutes after the drugs started to flow.

The exact reason for the reactions is unclear in both cases.

The secrecy that surrounds many states' injection procedures may explain why the issue appears never to have arisen before, said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor and lethal injection expert.

The only similar filing in Ohio may have been Richard Cooey's unsuccessful argument in 2008 that he had poor vein access compounded by his obesity. Courts rejected Cooey's argument, and he was executed for the killing of two University of Akron students.

Durr received a death sentence for killing Angel Vincent of Elyria. The state had previously referred to her as Angel O'Nan, using her stepfather's surname.
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Ohio death row inmate wants DNA testing, ACLU says

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio wants to delay the execution of a Cleveland man until more DNA testing has been done on a piece of evidence.

Darryl Durr, 46, is scheduled to be executed April 20 for the 1988 rape and murder of 16-year-old Angel Vincent of Elyria, whose body was found in a ravine in Cleveland.

DNA testing has been performed on some evidence in the case, but not a necklace that was found on the victim, said James L. Hardiman, the legal director for the ACLU of Ohio.

Hardiman said that they are challenging an Ohio statute that gives prisoners who are not on death row more rights to appeal a case than those on death row. The ACLU believes that Durr's right to equal protection and due process of law has been violated because some evidence was allowed to be tested and the necklace was not.

"If the death penalty is imposed, which is the ultimate penalty, that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment," said Hardiman. "It would be better to err on the side of caution."

Kimberly Kowalski, deputy director of media relations for the attorney general' s office, said the state will oppose a temporary restraining order and will seek to dismiss the suit.

"The state courts have reviewed the issues concerning DNA testing and the conviction has withstood the appeals process," Kowalski said.

Durr also is fighting his execution on the grounds that he is allergic to anesthesia. At Durr's request, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost allowed a doctor and a lethal injection expert to review his medical records to resolve the issue, according to the Associated Press.
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/ohio_death_row_inmate_wants_dn.html

State: No sign of Ohio inmate's anesthesia allergy

The medical records of a condemned Ohio inmate who says he's allergic to anesthesia used in state executions show no evidence of such an allergy beyond his own statements, according to federal court papers filed Friday by the state attorney general.
The state said the records also show Darryl Durr has taken a painkiller used in Ohio's backup execution process in the past without problems.
In an unusual legal maneuver, Durr is arguing that no one knows how his body will react if state officials are allowed next week to inject him with the one lethal drug they now use. But the state, quoting a medical expert, also said there is no proof that an allergic reaction would occur before Durr was already deeply unconscious from the drug.

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Judge: No allergy risk proven for Ohio execution

An inmate scheduled to die next week for raping and strangling a 16-year-old girl has failed to present enough evidence of an allergy to anesthesia that could affect the execution, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Condemned killer Darryl Durr waited too long to raise the issue of an allergy and then relied mainly on speculation to ask for time to investigate, said U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost.

"Durr presents this court with an unproven allergy that might have an unknown effect on his execution and asks for time to fill in details that may or may not rise to the level of demonstrating a likelihood of success," Frost wrote in the afternoon ruling.

"Speculation is not evidence, however," Frost said.

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Ohio Execution Date Nears; Prisoner Under Watch

The next inmate to be executed in Ohio faces heightened security this weekend as the state tries to avoid another suicide attempt on death row.

Darryl Durr is under a 72-hour watch at a Youngstown prison. He is scheduled to die Tuesday by lethal injection for strangling a 16-year-old girl in suburban Cleveland in 1988.

Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn says the cell watch has been standard in the days before executions. But now the cell includes a Plexiglas-like door so guards can keep better surveillance. Also, staff will evaluate whether Durr can have certain personal items, including shoestrings.

The moves come after the March 7 attempted suicide of inmate Lawrence Reynolds, who overdosed on antidepressants two days before his scheduled execution.

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Appeals rejected; Durr may go to high court to stop execution

A death row inmate convicted of strangling a 16-year-old Elyria girl in 1988 had several last-minute appeals rejected by a federal court today, including a claim that he could be violently allergic to the anesthetic Ohio uses to put inmates to death.

Darryl Durr, 46, is running out of legal options to delay his execution tomorrow. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld multiple rulings issued by lower courts last week.
A message seeking comment was left for Durr’s attorneys, who could make a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Monday’s rulings rejected Durr’s argument for more DNA testing on a necklace worn by the victim. The appeals court also rejected his claim that Ohio’s lethal injection chemicals violate federal prescription drug laws.

Durr was transferred Monday from a state prison in Youngstown to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, home to the state’s death chamber.

He was convicted of kidnapping 16-year-old Angel Vincent from her home in Elyria on Jan. 31, 1988, while her mother and stepfather were away at a Super Bowl party. He raped and strangled her with a dog chain and hid her body inside two orange traffic barrels placed end-to-end in a Cleveland park, prosecutors said.

Several boys playing in the park discovered her body three months later.

Durr says he is innocent and that he didn’t receive a fair trial.

Experts have testified there would be no DNA on the necklace that the girl was wearing when her decomposed body was found.

Officials also couldn’t guarantee the necklace had been preserved properly as evidence, ruining the chance of obtaining any results that could be used in court.

DNA testing of other biological evidence preserved from Vincent’s body that was done last year at Durr’s request found no DNA other than Vincent’s.

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Elyria man who murdered teen-age girl set to be executed Tuesday morning

The state is scheduled on Tuesday to execute Darryl Durr, an Elyria man convicted of raping and strangling a 16-year-old girl in 1988.

Durr arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville Monday morning as the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his last-minute attempts to halt the execution. Later in the day, Gov. Ted Strickland denied Durr clemency.

Durr had been seeking DNA testing of a necklace belonging to the victim, said his lawyer, Dennis Sipe. Durr also argued, in separate lawsuits, that the state cannot administer the drugs used in the lethal injection without a prescription, and that he is allergic to anesthesia. After the appeals court rejected the suits, Durr’s lawyers went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had not issued a decision as of Monday evening.

Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, Durr will be the 37th Ohio inmate executed at the prison’s "Death House" in Lucasville since 1999. Durr will be killed with a dose of thiopental sodium given intravenously. If an IV cannot be inserted, an intramuscular injection of other lethal drugs is available as a back-up.

Durr, 46, was put on death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Angel Vincent, 16, of Elyria. Durr strangled Angel with a dog chain on Jan. 31 or Feb.1 and hid her body inside two construction cones, placed end to end, in a ravine near Denison Avenue and Fulton Road. Boys playing in the area discovered Angel’s body three months later.

Durr had been dating and living with Angel’s friend and neighbor, Deborah Mullins, who was a year or two older than Angel.

Angel was home alone the night of Jan. 31 when she asked Mullins to go to another girlfriend’s house to get her jean jacket containing a pack of cigarettes. Mullins testified in court that she went back to her home two doors down and told Durr, who was 24 at the time, to get the cigarettes.

Durr returned 15 minutes later and began throwing rocks at Mullins’ window and honking his car horn. Mullins and the baby she had with Durr got into his car, and Mullins saw Angel tied up in the back. Durr pulled a knife on Mullins and their baby and said he was going to kill Angel "so she wouldn’t tell," Mullins testified.

After a short drive, Durr dropped Mullins back off at their home. He returned three to four hours later without Angel. The teenager was presumed missing until Mullins talked to police eight months later, after Durr was arrested for raping two other girls, 14 and 18.

Durr’s history of violence - at 18, he stabbed a woman in the stomach during an argument over $2 worth of gas - is one reason the Ohio Adult Parole Authority in September unanimously recommended that Strickland deny clemency.

No motive for the killing was offered in court, but Angel’s mother, Norma Godsey, later told the parole board that Durr was obsessed with her daughter.

Durr, however, told the parole board that he never left Mullins’ house when she asked him to get Angel’s cigarettes. He also denied raping the other two teenagers, even though he pleaded guilty to those crimes. There was no physical evidence used against Durr in court because Angel’s body was decomposed.

Two lawyers, a spiritual advisor and a friend are scheduled to witness the execution on Durr’s behalf. Angel’s mother, cousin and uncle also are expected to attend.

Durr refused food and drink Monday in observance of a "religious fast," Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. He also refused to allow medical staff to take his vital signs, but was cooperative when they checked his veins, which appear palpable, Walburn said.

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Execution of Darryl Durr for 1988 murder of teen on schedule today

The state's execution of Darryl Durr is on schedule for 10 a.m. today, as the U.S. Supreme Court denied the convicted rapist and murderer's request for a stay of execution Monday night.

Durr, of Elyria, has taken a few visitors -- his lawyers, a spiritual adviser and a friend -- and spoken to a woman he calls his wife several times on the phone since his arrival Monday morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and
Correction Spokeswoman Julie Walburn said at a media briefing this morning.

Prison staff have said Durr, 46, has been cooperative but increasingly anxious, Walburn said.

Durr has declined to eat or drink in observance of a religious fast since arriving here.

The state today is scheduled to execute Durr, of Elyria, who was convicted of raping and strangling a 16-year-old girl in 1988.


Durr arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville Monday morning as the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his last-minute attempts to halt the execution. Later in the day, Gov. Ted Strickland denied Durr clemency, and the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday refused to hear his case.


Durr had been seeking DNA testing of a necklace belonging to the victim, said his lawyer, Dennis Sipe. Durr also argued, in separate lawsuits, that the state cannot administer the drugs used in the lethal injection without a prescription, and that he is allergic to anesthesia. After the appeals court rejected the suits, Durr's lawyers went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had not issued a decision as of Monday evening.

Durr will be the 37th Ohio inmate executed at the prison's "Death House" in Lucasville since 1999. Durr will be killed with a dose of thiopental sodium given intravenously. If an IV cannot be inserted, an intramuscular injection of other lethal drugs is available as a back-up.

Durr, 46, was put on death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Angel Vincent, 16, of Elyria. Durr strangled Angel with a dog chain on Jan. 31 or Feb.1 and hid her body inside two construction cones, placed end to end, in a ravine near Denison Avenue and Fulton Road. Boys playing in the area discovered Angel's body three months later.

Durr had been dating and living with Angel's friend and neighbor, Deborah Mullins, who was a year or two older than Angel.

Angel was home alone the night of Jan. 31 when she asked Mullins to go to another girlfriend's house to get her jean jacket containing a pack of cigarettes. Mullins testified in court that she went back to her home two doors down and told Durr, who was 24 at the time, to get the cigarettes.

Durr returned 15 minutes later and began throwing rocks at Mullins' window and honking his car horn. Mullins and the baby she had with Durr got into his car, and Mullins saw Angel tied up in the back. Durr pulled a knife on Mullins and their baby and said he was going to kill Angel "so she wouldn't tell," Mullins testified.

After a short drive, Durr dropped Mullins back off at their home. He returned three to four hours later without Angel. The teenager was presumed missing until Mullins talked to police eight months later, after Durr was arrested for raping two other girls, 14 and 18.

Durr's history of violence -- at 18, he stabbed a woman in the stomach during an argument over $2 worth of gas -- is one reason the Ohio Adult Parole Authority in September unanimously recommended that Strickland deny clemency.

No motive for the killing was offered in court, but Angel's mother, Norma Godsey, later told the parole board that Durr was obsessed with her daughter.

Durr, however, told the parole board that he never left Mullins' house when she asked him to get Angel's cigarettes. He also denied raping the other two teenagers, even though he pleaded guilty to those crimes. There was no physical evidence used against Durr in court because Angel's body was decomposed.

Two lawyers, a spiritual adviser and a friend are scheduled to witness the execution on Durr's behalf. Angel's mother, cousin and uncle also are expected to attend.

Durr refused food and drink Monday in observance of a "religious fast," Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. He also refused to allow medical staff to take his vital signs, but was cooperative when they checked his veins, which appear palpable, Walburn said.

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Death Row Allergy Claim Fails to Delay Darryl Durr's Execution

A death row inmate who tried to delay his execution by claiming he was allergic to the anesthesia used in the lethal injection was put to death today, right on schedule.

Darryl Durr, 46, was declared dead at 10:36 a.m. ET. Initial word from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where the execution took place, is that there were no complications with the execution.

A prison official who was present told ABC News that as the process began Durr clenched his fists and grimaced while holding his head up for about 10 seconds, before putting his head down. The official, who declined to be identified, said it wasn't clear whether Durr was in pain or reacting to the moment.

Durr had been convicted of the rape and murder of 16-year-old Angel Vincent in 1988. He is the 37th inmate executed in Lucasville, Ohio's so-called "death house" at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility since 1999 and the fourth person to be executed in Ohio this year.

abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/darryl-durrs-allergy-claim-fails-delay-execution/story?id=10420538

Da'rryl Durr on the death penalty

In a telephone call from death row, Da'rryl Durr describes capital punishment as 'murder by the state'

"We don't say a prisoner was executed, we say he was murdered by the state," says Da'rryl Durr, speaking from Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. He was there on formal deathwatch until Monday, when he was transferred to the state's maximum-security facility in Lucasville to await his execution.

Durr, 46, had been placed on Ohio's death row on 10 January 1989, for the murder of 16-year-old Angel Vincent. When I spoke to him on the telephone last Saturday evening, he had less than 72 hours to his time of execution.

Vincent was discovered missing from her home in Elyria, Ohio, when her parents returned from a night out on 31 January 1988. Just 20 minutes earlier her mother, Norma Jean O'Nan, had spoken to her on the telephone; Vincent told her that a friend, Deborah Mullins, was in the house with her. Mullins, she said, was waiting for her boyfriend, Da'rryl Durr, to arrive.

Several days later, Vincent's mother confronted Mullins about her daughter's whereabouts. Mullins suggested she had probably "run away". Three months later, on 30 April, Vincent's decomposing remains were discovered by some boys playing in a local park, though they were not immediately identified.

After examining the remains, the deputy coroner concluded that the remains were those of a young girl who had died as a result of "homicidal violence". The extent of her decomposition made it impossible to ascertain if there had been any ligature marks, scrapes or skin tears, but the deputy coroner declined to rule out strangulation, citing the flexibility of the internal cartilaginous structures of the victim's neck. Due to the severe infestation of bacteria present on the remains, testing for the presence of spermatozoa was also inconclusive, rendering it impossible to confirm whether or not Vincent had been raped.

Durr was charged with her murder five months later. Following his arrest for two unrelated rapes – to which he pled guilty on the advice of his lawyers, but then later denied – Mullins went to the Cleveland police and told them Durr had murdered Vincent. X-rays on the body in the park then confirmed the remains to be those of Vincent. Durr stood trial and, although there was no physical evidence to connect him to the crime, he was, on the sole testimony of Mullins, found guilty of aggravated murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. He was sentenced to death and placed on Ohio State Penitentiary's death row.

There appear to have been some racial overtones in the case against Durr. He is African American. Angel Vincent and Deborah Mullins are white, as is Durr's former common-law wife Janice. At a later review of the original trial's verdict and sentence, Durr's attorney William Lazarow attempted to have the original trial judge, William McAllister, taken off the review due to remarks he was alleged to have made in chambers while the jury were considering their verdict. Durr's trial lawyer Jerry Milano signed a sworn affadavit in which he stated that McAllister said he "wanted to see [Durr's] black person ass in the chair for messing with white women". The judge denied making any such comments, but Milano stands by his statement. The request to have McAllister removed was denied. A policeman in the case also told Durr's stepfather that he didn't like him because he looked "like Martin Luther King".

Despite several appeals and hearings, Durr remained on death row. Yet he appears to have used his time in prison in as constructive a manner as the limitations of his existence would allow. He taught himself law, then volunteered to advise and assist other prisoners in legal and civil matters, helping imprisoned fathers to establish and preserve their parental rights. He staged a hunger strike in his early years of imprisonment, to get the cells on death row cleaned and painted, and has made numerous donations to a children's charity that raised funds through the selling of craftwork. Durr also embraced religion and encourages others to lead a spiritually healthy life.

I ask Durr how the other prisoners "on the row" react when an execution has taken place. "There is a grieving process. Some guys fast," he says, "others give away money. Some go into a self-imposed solitary confinement, not wanting to talk to anybody. They won't talk to guards, won't talk to other prisoners. They get traumatised.

"These are people that we live around – you get to know each other's families, their life stories. You learn how damaged people are when they come to prison – but you also see how guys change and make growth in their lives while you have known them. By the time the state murders that man, you wonder: what was it all worth?"

Durr's voice is measured and dignified, which I find remarkable for a man within hours of being strapped to a gurney and given a lethal injection. He knows I am a journalist, but expresses no bitterness or anger. I ask if he thinks he has grown in prison. Is he the same man he was 22 years ago?

"Of course not," he says, assuredly. "Change is inevitable. But growth is optional. I have studied law, religion, history and people. But I try to communicate with people on a level that I might be able to make a change, not only in my life but in their lives."

He tells me it has been important not to stagnate on death row. "If there is a difference that you can make in the life of another person, you want to make that difference. After I have spoken to you, I want to feel that I have taken something from our conversation and it has made me a better person – and I want to leave you the same way."

After 22 years of confinement, I find his calm reasoning impressive. "If there is something that enriched you from our conversation that you can share," he says, "then please let people know there is humanity even in these places."

I have read of his claims of innocence, but now, speaking to him, knowing what he faces, I am embarrassed to ask if it's true. Yet I feel I should, to give him a chance to say it out loud. I take a deep breath and ask him outright. "Yes, absolutely," he says without hesitation. Clearly I am speaking to an intelligent, empathetic, rounded human being. The idea of his life being wilfully extinguished fills me with dread. "You should know that it is really not about any issues you have," he says. "If you have bad judges, it doesn't matter if you are innocent or guilty."

Durr then tells me about a fellow death-row prisoner, who maintained his innocence for 15 years. The state refused to DNA-test a piece of evidence: blood on a tennis shoe that he said was his, and not the victim's, as argued by the court that convicted him. Finally, the test was allowed and he was proved right. Yet no court would allow his appeal. If the then governor of Ohio had not granted the prisoner clemency, he would be dead. Instead, his sentence was commuted to life without parole. "This is what happens in the state of Ohio," Durr says.

Last year, Durr asked for DNA-testing on biological material belonging to Vincent. This was allowed and the test came back negative. Officials then refused a second test, saying the first test only came back negative because the evidence was old and had been mishandled. The second test related to Vincent's necklace. Though records show it has never been out of police custody, that too is said to have been mishandled – the DNA test was denied.

In a last-minute attempt to stay his execution, Durr's lawyers submitted the argument that he was allergic to the anaesthetic used in the administration of the lethal injection. They needed more time, they said, to investigate his medical records. "My lawyers have filed with the judges," Durr says, "but it's the same three judges who threw out my earlier claims. You can expect that they will deny me again."

How does he feel towards Vincent's family? "I would hope, if they think I did this and harmed their family, that they could forgive me. I understand their pain, their loss, having suffered the same thing myself – and I'm sorry, I really am. I maintain my innocence, but that doesn't negate the pain they feel and I'm sorry for their pain. I really am."

I ask how his society, the people of Ohio, feel generally about the treatment of people in his position. "I think they support the process as they are led to believe it operates. People are given a candy-coated version of what a prisoner's life is like. But the average citizen will never experience it. If more people actually knew what one year, two years, three years of prison life was actually like, I think more people would be appalled. They would press politicians and other people in society to make effective changes in prison conditions, so we wouldn't have the reoffending rate that we have, or the intra-prison violence.

"In America, they spend more money incarcerating people than they do on educating people. You're talking almost $2m to murder someone on death row. If they took that money and gave you 30 years to life or 20 years to life, they could use the rest of the money and educate five people who want to go to college."

Finally, I ask Durr why the state insists on killing people; what they think it achieves. (There have been 37 executions in Lucasville since 1999 – with one a month scheduled for the next 11 months.) But it is too late for him to answer. Our time is up. "I'm sorry," he says, "this will probably be our last call."

Except it wasn't. Durr was transferred to Lucasville on Monday, after all his appeals were turned down. The same day, the governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, refused his appeal for clemency, and on Monday night the supreme court rejected his lawyers' application for a stay.

But this morning, I was allowed to make a final, brief call to Durr, two and a half hours before he was due to be killed. This time when he picks up the phone, his voice is deep and sombre. "Hey," he says, "how's your spirit this morning?"

I tell him I was thinking about him, and it isn't good. I ask if there is anything else he would like to say.

"Yes," he says. "Please give my love to everybody that supported me and tried to help me. And when you write about me, do me a favour and please – are you familiar with St Paul's treatise on love?" I tell him I am. "Tell them that's what I believe: in faith, hope and love – and that the greatest of these is love."

Da'rryl Durr was killed by lethal injection today, right on schedule.


www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/20/darryl-durr-death-penalty