Vernon L. Smith

[thinkinkmesa]

Shooter in '93 slaying of Toledoan to be executed Jan. 7

COLUMBUS - Vernon L. Smith faces execution on Ohio's injection gurney Jan. 7 for the 1993 robbery and murder of the owner of a central Toledo carryout.

Decisions yesterday by the Ohio Supreme Court to set dates for Smith, 37, and two other death-row inmates mean nine people now are in line for the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville between July and February.

Smith, also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, was convicted of shooting Sohail Darwish, owner of the Woodstock Carryout at Woodstock and Avondale avenues, during a May 26, 1993, robbery that went awry. Although Smith reportedly told his wife later that he shot Mr. Darwish in the arm and had not intended to kill him, the bullet severed an artery in the victim's shoulder, causing him to bleed to death.

Mr. Darwish, a 29-year-old Saudi Arabian immigrant, had a 1-year-old daughter and his wife was expecting their second child at the time of his death.

Smith and two co-conspirators escaped with more than $400 in cash and about $50 in food stamps, but they were arrested two weeks later.

Co-conspirator Herbert Bryson was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for involuntary manslaughter for his role, while Lamont Layson, who waited outside in the car, was sentenced to seven to 25 years for aggravated robbery.

Both co-conspirators pleaded guilty and testified against Smith at his trial, saying he became nervous when Mr. Darwish took too long to open the cash register drawer.

Layson testified Smith told him, "He shouldn't be in our neighborhood with a store, no way."

Smith received a death sentence on the murder charge and a prison sentence of 18 to 53 years for three aggravated robbery and firearm convictions.

He has exhausted his state and federal appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court twice refused to hear his case, most recently in April.

"It's about time. The execution was ordered back in 1994," John Weglian, chief of the Lucas County Prosecutor Office's special units division.

Smith offered no defense during the guilt phase of his trial.

But during the penalty phase, his wife and a psychologist suggested he was influenced by the movie Menace II Society, which he and his wife had reportedly watched the day of the murder. Its opening scene is similar to the Darwish murder.

Smith's latest attorney, assistant public defender Robert Lowe, challenged Ohio's lethal injection process in urging the state Supreme Court not to set an execution date.

"The only court that has considered the merits of Ohio's lethal injection protocol found that the protocol creates an unnecessary and arbitrary risk that the condemned will experience an agonizing death, in violation of constitutional and statutory obligations that executions be quick and painless," his unsuccessful motion said.

Barring court intervention or clemency from Gov. Ted Strickland, Smith would be transported the roughly 250 miles from death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown to Lucasville, probably the day before his scheduled execution. Ohio's lethal injection process employs a three-drug mix designed to sedate the condemned inmate and then shut down his lungs and heart.

He would become the third Lucas County man executed since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. All three involved robbery-murders.

Gregory Bryant Bey died Nov. 19, 2008, for the 1992 murder of Dale Pinkelman. Joseph Lewis Clark was put to death on May 2, 2006, for the 1994 killing of David Manning.

Ohio has executed 29 inmates since 1999, and the pace of execution scheduling has picked up recently in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in a Kentucky case, that generally upheld the constitutionality of the lethal injection process. The state Supreme Court recently decided to schedule executions no closer than three weeks apart.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090618/NEWS02/906180369/0/ART18

And this earlier article;

Execution date set for Toledoan convicted of killing store owner
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS - After 17 years on Ohio's death row, convicted murderer Vernon L. Smith faces an execution date for the May 26, 1993, robbery murder of the owner of a central Toledo convenience store.

The Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday set execution dates for three death row inmates, including Smith, also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi. He is scheduled to die on Jan. 7 on the state's injection gurney at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.

Smith was convicted of shooting Sohail Darwish, owner of the Woodstock Carryout at Woodstock and Avondale avenues, during a robbery that went awry. Although Smith insisted he shot hit Mr. Darwish in the arm and had not intended to kill him, the bullet severed an artery in the victim's shoulder, causing him to bleed to death.

Co-conspirator Herbert Bryson was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for involuntary manslaughter for his role in the crime, while Lamont Layson, who waited outside in the car, was sentenced to seven to 25 years for aggravated robbery.

Both pleaded guilty and testified against Smith at trial. Smith received a death sentence on the murder charge and a prison sentence of 18 to 53 years for aggravated robbery and firearm convictions. He has exhausted his state and federal appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court twice refusing to hear his case, most recently in April.

Smith's latest attorney, state Assistant Public Defender Robert K. Lowe, challenged Ohio's lethal injection process in urging the state Supreme Court not to set an execution date.

"The only court that has considered the merits of Ohio's lethal injection protocol found that the protocol creates an unnecessary and arbitrary risk that the condemned will experience an agonizing death, in violation of constitutional and statutory obligations that executions be quick and painless," reads his motion.
www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090617/NEWS02/906179963

[guest]

Panel to hear Ohio shooter's plea for clemency


Convicted murderer Vernon L. Smith will get a chance next week to make his pitch to Gov. Ted Strickland to spare him from execution on Ohio's lethal injection gurney.

The Ohio Parole Board will preside over a clemency hearing next Thursday and make a recommendation to the governor within a week. Attorneys representing Smith and Lucas County, as well as the families of both Smith and his victim, will have the opportunity to make their cases to the panel.

Smith, also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, is scheduled to die Jan. 7 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville for the shooting of Sohail Darwish during the 1993 robbery of Mr. Darwish's Woodstock Carryout at Woodstock and Avondale avenues in Toledo.

Mr. Darwish, a 29-year-old Saudi Arabian immigrant, had a 1-year-old daughter and his wife was expecting their second child at the time of his death. Smith and two co-conspirators escaped with more than $400 in cash and about $50 in food stamps, but they were arrested two weeks later. Herbert Bryson was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for involuntary manslaughter for his role. Lamont

Layson, who waited outside in the car, was sentenced to seven to 25 years for aggravated robbery.

Barring gubernatorial or court intervention, Smith could become the second person subjected to Ohio's unique one-drug execution procedure unveiled earlier this month. He is incarcerated on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown.
The Cincinnati-based U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday overturned the stay issued by a lower court and put the Dec. 8 execution of Kenneth Biros back on track.


Biros was convicted in the 1991 murder and rape of Tami Engstrom in Trumbull County.

The court noted Biros had challenged the effects of the second and third drugs, not the single massive overdose of barbiturate that would be used to kill him under the new system. It said it would deal with the constitutionality of Ohio's newest procedure when a challenge reaches it.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091126/NEWS24/911260361

[thinkinkmesa]

Parole panel to consider clemency for murderer
1993 death at carryout an accident, lawyer says

Attorneys for convicted murderer Vernon Smith will try to convince the Ohio Parole Board tomorrow that he never meant to kill the owner of a Toledo carryout during a robbery 16 years ago and should be spared execution.

The state, however, will counter that Smith, 37, "callously and deliberately'' shot a cooperative Sohail Darwish, who left behind a wife, a young daughter, and an unborn daughter.

The parole board will recommend whether Gov. Ted Strickland should commute Smith's sentence to life in prison. Also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, Smith faces lethal injection on Jan. 7 under Ohio's new single-drug process.

"The next day, when Mahdi was at home, he heard on the news that Darwish had died," reads the clemency application submitted by Ohio assistant public defenders Robert Lowe and Kimberly Rigby. "Upon hearing this, he broke down and cried. He was extremely distraught, not over the trouble he was in but the fact that he had taken a man's life."

The victim's widow, Charlotte Darwish, and his daughters, Dolly and Mona, are expected to speak to the parole board. Smith's aunt, Patricia Dickerson, is expected to make a statement via video.

Smith refused to be interviewed in prison by a parole board member. Death row inmates do not appear before the full board.
"Mahdi has not demonstrated that he deserves any mercy,'' reads the state's argument filed by Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates, and Christopher Anderson, assistant prosecuting attorney.


"Without any provocation, Mahdi deliberately shot Sohail in the chest, despite Sohail fully complying with Mahdi's orders," they argue. "Sohail's death left his widow, Charlotte Darwish, to raise and support both their first child and the unborn baby she was pregnant with when Sohail was murdered. To this day, Mahdi has shown no remorse."

Smith's attorneys argue he believed he had shot Woodstock Market owner Mr. Darwish in the arm during the May 26, 1993, robbery, unaware it would prove fatal. They accuse his trial attorney of conceding Smith's guilt and not seriously challenging the prosecution's contention that Mr. Darwish's death was intentional until it came time to fight the death sentence. The gambit failed.

Smith is getting some help from a former 6th District Court of Appeals judge who cast the sole dissent in the decision upholding the conviction and sentence. At the request of Smith's attorneys, retired Judge James R. Sherck of Sandusky County submitted a letter to the parole board in which he questions whether Smith meant to kill Mr. Darwish.

"The victim was shot in the left shoulder and bullet traveled laterally near the collarbone and came to rest near the right wing bone," he wrote. "Though normally not a fatal wound, the bullet in this case severed a main artery in its path, causing the victim to bleed to death." He said Smith did not shoot Mr. Darwish's friend Osand (Senate) Tahboub, who was seated behind the counter at the time.

The clemency petition also goes after trial counsel's failure to question potential jurors about possible racial bias. Smith is black. Mr. Darwish was a Palestinian raised in Saudi Arabia before immigrating to Toledo.

Conspirator Lamont Layson, who waited in the car during the robbery, had testified that Smith told him, "[Expletive] him, he in our neighborhood anyway. He shouldn't be in our neighborhood with a store, no way."

Layson was sentenced to seven to 25 years for aggravated robbery. His cousin, Herbert Bryson, was in the store with Smith and was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for involuntary manslaughter.

Since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999, three death row inmates have received mercy - one from Gov. Bob Taft and two from Mr. Strickland.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091202/NEWS02/912020343

[thinkinkmesa]

As convicted murderer Vernon Smith fights for his life in front of the Ohio parole board, the wife of the victim says Smith deserves to die.

Smith will appeal for clemency Thursday in Columbus. Prosecutors say he and two accomplices robbed and killed Sohail Darwish at a Toledo carryout in May of 1993.

"I was actually on the phone with Sahail when they walked in the store," said Charlotte Darwish, Sohail's widow.

Charlotte sat numb through the trial. The couple had a one-year-old girl when he died, and she gave birth to another daughter three months after that.

Now 16 years later, Smith's attorneys are fighting for the governor to commute his death sentence to life in prison. They say he did not intend to kill Sohail, that he showed remorse and has been diagnosed with paranoia, depression and drug addiction.

Charlotte will be at the hearing with photos of her husband and stories that she spends every one of his birthdays at his grave site. Their daughters, now 16 years old and 17 years old, also may speak at the clemency hearing. Charlotte hopes Smith does not receive clemency and will be executed next month as scheduled. "I can't forgive him. I'm not God. I don't have that ability," she said, adding that she believes in an eye for an eye.

It was in the hospital with premature labor that Charlotte was told her husband was dead. Sohail told her on the phone that he'd close the store and be right over. Instead, she says a line of doctors came into her hospital room. "Your husband is Sohail? I said, 'Yeah.' He said he was robbed, shot and killed," Charlotte remembers.

"That's what he got killed for. That's what he got killed over, just working and trying to provide for his family," she said.

If Smith is executed in January, at least one of the daughters says she'll be there to witness it
www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=11607889

[thinkinkmesa]

Toledo man asks state to spare his life

www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=11616731

Vernon Smith, who is scheduled to die in January, appeared before the Ohio Parole Board Thursday to ask that his life be spared.

It could be weeks before the decision of the board is known. The board will deliberate and make a recommendation to Governor Strickland whether to grant clemency.

Smith was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Sohail Darwish who was shot and killed while working at a Toledo carryout.

Darwish's wife, Charlotte, was scheduled to speak at the clemency hearing. In an interview Wednesday, Charlotte said she would speak at the hearing to try and make sure clemency is not granted. View the full interview with Charlotte Darwish by follwing link; www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=11607889

[thinkinkmesa]

Murderer did not intend to kill, lawyer says at clemency hearing


As Charlotte Darwish prepared 16 years ago to close the Woodstock Carryout where her husband had been murdered, she found a corkboard with numerous IOUs pinned to it totaling $4,000 from customers who couldn't afford to pay.

"My husband didn't deserve to die," she told the Ohio Parole Board yesterday. "My husband did belong in that neighborhood, regardless of what [Vernon] Smith said. He helped that neighborhood."

The widow of Toledo store owner Sohail Darwish offered the story to counter what Smith reportedly told a co-conspirator shortly after he robbed and shot the Palestinian immigrant on May 26, 1993.

Smith reportedly uttered an expletive, then said Mr. Darwish "shouldn't be in our neighborhood with a store, no way."


Smith, also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazam Mahdi, is asking the parole board to recommend that Gov. Ted Strickland commute his death sentence to life in prison.

Smith, 37, is scheduled to die via an overdose of barbiturate on Jan. 7. The board will announce its decision on Dec. 11.

"I don't think Mr. Mahdi is the worst of the worst …," Columbus psychologist James Reardon, a former Toledo parole officer, told the board. "He's someone who made a really bad decision, and because of that decision, caused the death of another person, Mr. Darwish, and he regrets it very strongly. … He knows there's nothing he can do to change it."


Mr. Reardon interviewed Smith 13 years ago. Smith recently refused to meet with him again as the psychologist prepared to speak to the board on his behalf.

Smith's attorneys contend that he didn't mean to kill Mr. Darwish and that Smith fled after the robbery believing he had delivered a nonfatal wound to the merchant's arm. His bullet, however, struck an artery, causing Mr. Darwish to bleed to death.

As Mrs. Darwish testified, her younger daughter, Mona, wept. She was born three months after her father's death. Her older sister, Dolly, who was just shy of 1 year old when her father died, sat silently with them.

"What am I supposed to say about somebody I don't know?" Mrs. Darwish said Dolly asked when questioned what she'd tell the board about her father.

There's no doubt Smith pulled the trigger.

"His finger was on the trigger, but he only intended to rob the market," Assistant Public Defender Kimberly Rigby said.

At least one board member appeared to be skeptical of the argument that Smith's nervousness led him to accidentally pull the trigger of a gun that has never been recovered.

"This board hears that a lot," Chairman Cynthia Mausser said. "Guns go off all the time, and nobody's ever responsible for pulling the trigger."

Mr. Reardon countered, "If he really intended to kill Mr. Darwish, I believe he would have shot him again. … I also believe that if he was cold-blooded, he would have killed the witness."

Smith and his accomplice, Herbert Bryson, left the store without harming Osand (Senate) Tahboub, who was seated behind the counter in his friend's store when the robbery occurred. His testimony, along with that of Bryson and a third conspirator, Lamont Layson, helped to convict Smith.

Smith didn't appear to win points with the board by refusing a prison interview with one of its members. This led some members to question whether the problems cited by his current lawyers about the strategy of trial counsel in 1994 could instead be at least partly blamed on Smith's refusal to cooperate.

"We heard today a lot of speculation, hypotheses, assumptions, what he might think, what he could feel, [and] what he possibly intended, but he spoke not to the doctor these last 13 years and not to the board," Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia Bates said. "We really do not know the answers to those questions. So what weight or credibility do we give to any of these hypotheses and possibilities?"

Smith could become the second person executed via Ohio's new single-drug method.

Mr. Strickland yesterday agreed with a unanimous parole board recommendation that no clemency should be granted Kenneth Biros, facing execution Tuesday for killing and dismembering a 22-year-old Warren-area woman in 1991.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091204/NEWS02/912040351

[guest]

'Deny clemency' for killer of Toledo store owner

The Ohio Parole Board has denied clemency for a Toledo man sentenced to die for killing a Toledo store owner in 1993.

Vernon Smith, 37, was found guilty of the aggravated murder of Sohail Darwish, 28, owner of the Woodstock Market in Central Toledo.

A jury sentenced Smith, also known as Abullak Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, to death for the May 29, 1993 fatal shooting. Smith met up with friends and accomplices, Herbert Bryson and Lamont Layson before the trio headed to the Central Toledo market to commit a robbery. Once inside, Smith demanded Darwish open the cash register and empty his wallet. He then shot Darwish once in the chest.

According to Bryson, when asked why he shot the store owner, Smith stated he shot him in the arm because "he moved too slow" and took too long to open the register.

In a clemency hearing Friday, the parole board voted 5-to-2 to recommend Gov. Ted Strickland deny clemency for the convicted killer. The board's majority stated that Smith has failed to show significant remorse for his actions. They say the fact that Darwish was compliant with and did not resist Smith's demands during the robbery makes the ultimate crime even more aggravating.

Smith is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Jan. 7, 2010. He has served 15 years and 8 months in prison to date.

Bryson and Layson both pled guilty to seperate charges in the incident. Bryson was sentenced to 10-25 years and will have a parole hearing in March 2010. Layson was sentenced to 7-25 years behind bars and was released in 2002.
www.toledoonthemove.com/news/story.aspx?id=389189

[guest]

A Toledo man who fatally shot a store owner during a robbery should not be spared the death penalty, the Ohio Parole Board ruled in a report today.

The board voted 5-2 against clemency for Vernon Smith, 37, who has changed his name to Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi.

Smith, then 21, and two accomplices robbed a Toledo convenience store in 1993. Even though he did not resist, store owner Sohail Darwish was fatally shot as he followed Smith's instructions to turn over the cash from his wallet.

Smith, who had an extensive juvenile criminal history, was convicted of murder.

He did not testify on his own behalf in favor of clemency. His lawyer, Kimberly Rigby, said Smith grew up in a household without a father and with a mother who was frequently absent.

Smith is scheduled to be executed Jan. 7. He would be the second person put to death under Ohio's new method of capital punishment, which uses a single drug rather than the two-drug cocktail that had been in use before a botched execution in September.
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/12/11/toledo-killer-denied-clemency.html?sid=101

[guest]

Ohio Parole Board rejects leniency plea
Strickland urged to let execution of killer to proceed


A divided Ohio Parole Board yesterday recommended Gov. Ted Strickland show no mercy toward convicted murderer Vernon L. Smith in the 1993 robbery shooting of a Toledo carryout owner.

Smith, also known as Abdullah Sharif Kaazam Mahdi, faces execution via Ohio's new single-drug method on Jan. 7 for the killing of Sohail Darwish, a 28-year-old Palestinian immigrant, husband, and father.

By a vote of 5-2, the board said it didn't buy the argument that Smith hadn't intended to kill when he walked into the Woodstock Carryout carrying a gun. His state lawyers had argued that Smith thought he'd shot Mr. Darwish in the arm and was unaware the bullet had struck an artery, causing him to bleed to death.

"There was absolutely no reason for Mahdi to kill the victim," the majority wrote. "The victim in this case was shot in the chest as he was attempting to reach for the wallet in his pocket. The victim was completely compliant with Mahdi's demands and offered absolutely no resistance, thus making this killing even more aggravating."

The majority also noted Smith's refusal to participate in an interview on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown with a board member to support his own case. "This is indicative of Mahdi's continued lack of cooperation," it wrote. "There is no indication of significant remorse."

The two board members who recommended commutation to life without parole pointed to the fact Smith and co-conspirator Herbert Bryson left the store without killing Osand (Senate) Tahboub, a friend visiting Mr. Darwish at the time of the robbery.
"It may lead one to believe that he was not in the mindset to kill to evade detection by killing all witnesses or otherwise display the traits of a 'cold-blooded' killer," they wrote.


Unless Mr. Strickland bucks their recommendation or a court intervenes, Smith, 37, will become the second person in the country executed via an overdose of a single drug, a powerful anesthetic, a method just adopted by Ohio.

"The governor takes this responsibility very seriously," Strickland spokesman Amanda Wurst said. "He will take the time he needs to thoroughly review the report from the parole board before making a decision."

Neither the governor nor the courts came to the aid of Kenneth Biros on Tuesday when he became the first person in the country executed by this method for the killing and dismemberment of a 22-year-old Warren-area woman in 1991.

Mr. Darwish's wife, Charlotte, was pregnant with their second daughter at the time of the killing. Mona Darwish was born three months later. Dolly, his first daughter, was just shy of her first birthday when her father died.

Mr. Strickland has agreed with the recommendations of the parole board most of the time in death-penalty cases. But in August, he refused to commute the death sentence of Jason Getsy, convicted in the murder-for-hire shooting of Ann Serafino in Trumbull County, after the board voted 5-2 to recommend life without parole. Getsy was executed.

Last year, Mr. Strickland, following a new round of DNA tests, commuted the death sentence of John Spirko to life without parole after the board twice recommended he not do so. Spirko was convicted in the 1982 kidnapping murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, a Van Wert County postmaster.

[thinkinkmesa]

No one really knows if Vernon Smith meant to shoot and kill a carryout owner who had a 1-year-old daughter at home and a baby on the way.

It's what he said afterward that might be why he's set to be executed Thursday.

Smith, 37, was sentenced to death in the 1993 killing of Sohail Darwish, an immigrant raised in Saudi Arabia who bought the corner store so he could provide for his young family.

Smith and two friends planned the robbery. Inside the store, they grabbed some beer and Smith pulled out a gun, telling Darwish to empty the cash register and hand over his wallet. As the store owner grabbed for his money, Smith shot him once in the chest.

Back in their getaway car, Smith's friends told investigators that he said he shot the man in the arm because he "moved too slow" and that Darwish "shouldn't be in our neighborhood with a store, no way."

Then Smith added: "I forgot the beer."

"The callousness of it was pretty incredible," said Chris Anderson, a Lucas County assistant prosecutor. Darwish, who came to the U.S. when he was a teen, rarely took a day off, worked 14-hour days and allowed customers to give him IOUs.

His widow, Charlotte Darwish, told the Ohio Parole Board in early December that her 29-year-old husband was devoted to the store and his customers. "My husband did belong in that neighborhood," she said. "He helped that neighborhood."

Smith's attorneys say he never planned on killing Darwish and that his remarks were more about looking tough in front of his buddies. They point out that he thought Darwish was shot in the arm, not the chest.

"He wasn't thinking, 'I just killed someone'" said public defender Kimberly Rigby.

Smith's defenders unsuccessfully argued in court that he is not among the "worst of the worst" the death penalty was intended to punish. "He had the intent to rob and no more," Rigby said.

Smith's wife testified at his trial that he broke down a day after the shooting when he found out that Darwish had died. She also said he confessed.

If the death sentence is carried out, Smith would become the second inmate executed with just one drug in the U.S.

Ohio switched to one drug after a botched execution attempt on another inmate in September. The state in early December executed the first inmate, Kenneth Biros, using the new method.

Gov. Ted Strickland, a death penalty supporter, hasn't announced whether he will grant Smith clemency. The Ohio Parole Board rejected mercy for Smith in a 5-2 vote, saying he has not shown significant remorse.

Smith, who converted to Islam after his arrest and now goes by Abdullah Shariff Kaazim Mahdi, didn't testify at his clemency hearing or at his trial.

He was defiant during the proceedings in 1994 - putting cotton in his ears during testimony, insisting on wearing his jail uniform to court and refusing to complete an exam with a psychologist.

Anderson said Smith's biggest mistake was not letting the jury hear from him. "You have to humanize the defendant," he said.

"He could've given a statement. He really never said anything. He never apologized," Anderson said.

Smith's attorneys argue that his trial lawyers did a poor job representing him by trying to convince jurors that he shot the store owner because he had watched a violent movie earlier in the day that depicted the killing of a shop clerk.

The defense lawyers showed jurors clips of racially motivated movies that showed young black men in a negative light yet failed to ask potential jurors about their racial views, Rigby said.

"Their entire theme revolved around violence and race without rooting out those things," she said.

Anderson said he doubts race influenced the shooting or the outcome at the trial.

"It was a simple carryout robbery," he said. "Would they have killed the carryout owner if the guy was black? I don't know."
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100102/UPDATES01/100102005/1002/news01

[thinkinkmesa]

An inmate sentenced to death for the 1993 killing of a Toledo shopkeeper ran out of reprieves Wednesday, one day before his scheduled execution.

Vernon Smith, 37, was denied clemency by Gov. Ted Strickland just before 5:30 p.m. The late hour of the decision had raised hopes for Smith's legal team that he would be spared.

Smith, who now goes by the name Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi, is expected to be the second prisoner to be put to death using Ohio's unique one-drug lethal injection method. The state last month was the first to execute an inmate, Kenneth Biros, with a single dose of sodium thiopental.

The state came up with the new protocol after the execution of condemned inmate Romell Broom was botched and had to be called off.


Smith fasted from sunrise to sunset Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, where he arrived at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, ahead of a last meal of chopped and whole dates and hot tea with honey and lemon. He also asked for a miswak, a Muslim teeth-cleaning implement, and olive oil to lubricate his beard.

Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said his meal would be served later than the usual 4 p.m. start time at Smith's request. He planned to fast again until entering the death chamber Thursday morning, she said.

Smith was sentenced to death for killing 29-year-old Sohail Darwish, an immigrant raised in Saudi Arabia.

When he was killed, Darwish had one baby daughter and his wife was pregnant with a second. Charlotte Darwish and her two girls - Dolly, now 17, and Mona, 16 - plan to attend Thursday's execution. Mona would be the youngest witness to an execution on record with the state, Walburn said.

Smith met with his spiritual adviser, imam Atef Hamed, just after his 4:30 p.m. visiting hours began, Walburn said. He made two calls during the day, one to his wife and one to his attorney. He spent the rest of the day praying and watching television.
To read more or access article links;
www.examiner.com/a-2407031~Ohio_gov__denies_clemency_in_11th_hour_decision.html

[thinkinkmesa]

Vernon L. Smith quietly prayed in his cell, engaged in ceremonial feet washing, and ate a small meal consisting largely of dates and tea Wednesday as he prepared himself for execution at the hands of the state Thursday.

His last hope of avoiding lethal injection for the 1993 robbery murder of a central city merchant was dashed when Gov. Ted Strickland denied his request for clemency. No court appeals were pending that could stop the execution scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.

Smith, 37, who legally changed his name to Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi while sitting on death row, faces the ultimate punishment for killing Toledoan Sohail Darwish in the Woodstock Carryout he owned during a robbery.

Never denying that Mahdi fired the gun that killed Mr. Darwish, his attorneys urged the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. That sentencing option did not exist in Ohio law when Mahdi was tried.

Mr. Strickland said he and his staff thoroughly reviewed the record of the case, Mahdi's clemency petition, and letters his office had received on the case. Ultimately, he agreed with the 5-2 recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board that he show Madhi no mercy.

Mahdi is scheduled to become the 34th person executed since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. He would be just the second in the nation put to death via a one-drug protocol, a massive overdose of the powerful anesthetic thiopental sodium.

In the event the execution team fails to find a useable vein as occurred in a few highly publicized Ohio cases, the yet-to-be-used backup plan would involve injecting two drugs directly into muscle—the fast-acting sedative midazolam and the powerful painkiller hydromorphine.

Mahdi was transported Wednesday morning roughly 260 miles from death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown to Lucasville. After fasting throughout the day, he asked for a “special meal'' of whole and chopped dates as well as hot tea with lemon and honey.

He also asked for a Miswak, a wooden stick used to clean teeth, as well as olive oil, which he planned to use to groom his beard. Julie Walburn, spokesman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said neither has particular religious significance but are commonly used by those of the Muslim faith.

Mahdi has the option of eating the same breakfast as all other inmates Thursday morning, but he indicated that he expected to simply eat more of the dates as he resumes his fast.

“During the time that he has been here, he has spent his time praying, reading, watching television,'' said Ms. Walburn. He talked to his wife and one of his state attorneys on the telephone with both conversations lasting about 30 minutes. He was expected to meet with two spiritual advisors.

On May 26, 1993, Mahdi, brandishing a gun, walked into the Woodstock Carryout with Herbert Bryson while Bryson's cousin, Lamont Layson, waited in the car. During the robbery, Smith shot Mr. Darwish — a 28-year-old Palestinian immigrant, husband, and father of one daughter with a second on the way.

The bullet struck Mr. Darwish in the upper chest near the shoulder, severing an artery and leaving him to bleed to death.

Mr. Darwish's widow, Charlotte, and their two daughters, Dolly and Mona, are expected to witness the execution. Dolly, now 17, was just shy of her first birthday when her father was killed. At age 16, Mona, born three months after her father died, is expected to become the youngest person to witness an Ohio execution since at least 1999.

The only witness scheduled for Mahdi is his Islamic imam, Atef Hamed, one of those Mahdi was expected to meet with Wednesday night..

Chantell Beacham, Mahdi's cousin, was one of several family members who wrote to Mr. Strickland urging him to commute his sentence.

“Vernon is not a bad person,'' she wrote. “Growing up without the benefit of a male figure in his home, unfortunately at an early age Vernon followed the wrong crowd. Each of us at some time in our lives has done things that we have regretted. I know that Vernon regrets the day he committed the act that has put him where he is now.''

Mahdi's attorneys had argued that he is not among the worst of the worst for which capital punishment is intended. They contended he hadn't intended to kill Mr. Darwish and instead believed he'd delivered a non-fatal wound to his arm.

As evidence of his lack of intent, they pointed to the fact that Mahdi and Bryson fled the store without killing an eyewitness, Osand (Senate) Tahboub, who was behind the counter with his friend at the time of the robbery. Mr. Tahboub later returned from his native Lebanon to testify against Mahdi.

Bryson is serving a 10- to 25-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Layson has been paroled from his seven-to-25-year sentence for aggravated robbery. Both testified against Mahdi as part of plea agreements.
To read more;
toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100106/NEWS02/100109837

(Includes Governors statement)

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Toledo killer Vernon Smith lost his last chance to avoid the executioner when Gov. Ted Strickland rejected his clemency request this afternoon, and is now slated to become the second Ohioan to die using the state's new single-drug protocol.

Smith, 37, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdullah SharifKaazim Mahdi while in prison, is set to die at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.

He was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering Sohail Darwish, a 28-year-old Palestinian immigrant and father, during robbery at the Woodstock Market in Toledo on May 26, 1993.

Darwish's daughters, Dolly, 17, and Mona, 16, plan to witness their father's killer be executed, prison spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. They would be the youngest witnesses to an Ohio execution.

Earlier this afternoon, Strickland said he was struggling with his life-or-death decision in Smith's clemency. He called it "one of the most difficult cases that I have reviewed."

Strickland pointed to the dissenters in a 5-2 recommendation from the Ohio Parole Board opposing clemency, communication from an Ohio Supreme Court justice and a letter from an appeals court judge "indicating some concerns about the process that occurred during the trial."

Smith's attorneys said he did not deserve to die because he is not the "worst of the worst" as anticipated in the state's capital punishment laws.

Prosecutors and the majority of the parole board disagreed, however, pointing out that Smith killed Darwish even though the store clerk was reaching for his wallet as ordered. Dawish bled to death as a result of his wound.

Smith requested one of the more unusual "last meals" in Ohio's 10 years of capital punishment cases. After fasting from sunrise to sunset, he had a meal of whole and chopped dates and hot tea with lemon and honey. He also asked for and received olive oil to groom his beard and a "miswak" stick, a twig from the Peelu tree commonly used in Muslim countries to clean the teeth. Dates are recommended in the Islamic faith to consume when ending a fast.

Since Ohio adopted the new protocol using a large, single dose of a powerful anesthetic, one inmate has been executed. Kenneth Biros was lethally injected without incident on Dec. 8.

The state abandoned the three-drug process used by all other states that have lethal injected after problems cropped up in three executions.

Strickland's full statement rejecting clemency:

"As a result of his conviction for aggravated murder, Mr. Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi is scheduled to be executed on January 7, 2010 at 10 a.m. I have completed a review of the circumstances surrounding his case to determine if executive clemency is warranted.

"In conducting this evaluation, my staff and I reviewed the record of proceedings and the evidence presented in Mr. Mahdi's case, the judicial decisions regarding Mr. Mahdi's conviction, and arguments presented for and against clemency at the Parole Board hearing regarding Mr. Mahdi's application for executive clemency. We have also reviewed institutional records and letters received in the Governor's Office regarding this matter, and the recommendation against clemency forwarded to me by the Ohio Parole Board on December 11, 2009, along with the exhibits presented at the Parole Board's hearing and letters received by the Parole Board regarding Mr. Mahdi's case.

"Based on this review, I concur with the Parole Board recommendation on this matter."
To read more or leave comments;
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/01/06/killer-requests-last-meal.html?sid=101

[thinkinkmesa]

Killer quietly waits for execution as Strickland rejects clemency


Vernon Lamont Smith quietly prayed in his cell, engaged in ceremonial feet washing, and ate a small meal consisting largely of dates and tea last night as he prepared himself for execution at the hands of the state this morning.

His last hope of avoiding lethal injection for the 1993 robbery and murder of a central Toledo merchant was dashed when Gov. Ted Strickland denied his request for clemency yesterday.

No court appeals were pending that could stop the execution scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.

Smith, 37, who legally changed his name to Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi while sitting on death row, faces the ultimate punishment for killing Sohail Darwish in the Woodstock Carryout he owned.

Never denying that Mahdi fired the gun that killed Mr. Darwish, his attorneys had urged the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. That sentencing option did not exist in Ohio law when Mahdi was tried.

Mr. Strickland said he and his staff thoroughly reviewed the record of the case, Mahdi's clemency petition, and letters his office had received. Ultimately, he agreed with the 5-2 recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board that he show Madhi no mercy.
Julie Walburn, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Mahdi was "positive" and "respectful" when he learned of Mr. Strickland's decision.


Mahdi was transported yesterday morning roughly 260 miles from death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown to Lucasville. After fasting from sunrise to sunset, he asked for a "special meal" of whole and chopped dates as well as hot tea with lemon and honey.

He also asked for a Miswak, a tree branch used to clean teeth, as well as olive oil, which he planned to use to lubricate his beard. Ms. Walburn said neither has particular religious significance but are commonly used by those of the Muslim faith.

Mahdi had the option of eating the same breakfast as all other inmates this morning, but he indicated that he expected to eat just a few more of the dates as he resumes his fast. He was permitted to keep prayer beads, towel, and oil; a copy of the Qur'an, and a traditional kufi cap.

"During the time that he has been here, he has spent his time praying, reading, watching television," Ms. Walburn said. He talked to his wife and one of his state attorneys on the telephone with both conversations lasting about 30 minutes. He was expected to meet with a spiritual adviser last night and another this morning.

"His general mood has been quiet and cooperative," Ms. Walburn said. "He has been extremely quiet while he's been in the death house."

Mahdi would become the 34th person executed since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. He would be just the second in the nation put to death via a one-drug protocol, a massive overdose of the powerful anesthetic thiopental sodium. Ohio's prior protocol involved a series of three drugs.

In the event the execution team fails to find a usable vein as occurred in a few highly publicized Ohio cases, the yet-to-be-used backup plan would involve injecting two drugs directly into muscle - the fast-acting sedative midazolam and the powerful painkiller hydromorphine.

Ms. Walburn said a medical evaluation upon his arrival at the prison indicated no problem with his veins.

On May 26, 1993, Mahdi, brandishing a gun, walked into Mr. Darwish's market with Herbert Bryson while Bryson's cousin, Lamont Layson, waited in the car. During the robbery, Smith shot Mr. Darwish - a 28-year-old Palestinian immigrant, husband, and father of one daughter with a second on the way.

The bullet struck Mr. Darwish in the upper chest near the shoulder, severing an artery and causing him to bleed to death.

Mr. Darwish's widow, Charlotte, and their two daughters, Dolly and Mona, are expected to witness the execution. Dolly, now 17, was just shy of her first birthday when her father was killed. At age 16, Mona, born three months after her father died, would be the youngest person to witness an Ohio execution since at least 1999.

The only witness scheduled for Mahdi is his Islamic imam, Atef Hamed, whom Mahdi met with last night as he broke his fast after sunset.

Chantell Beacham was one of several family members who wrote to Mr. Strickland urging him to commute her cousin's sentence. "Vernon is not a bad person," she wrote. "Growing up without the benefit of a male figure in his home, unfortunately at an early age Vernon followed the wrong crowd. Each of us at some time in our lives has done things that we have regretted. I know that Vernon regrets the day he committed the act that has put him where he is now."

Mahdi's attorneys had argued that he is not among the worst of the worst for which capital punishment is intended. They contended he hadn't intended to kill Mr. Darwish and instead believed he'd delivered a nonfatal wound to his arm.

Bryson is serving a 10 to 25-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Layson has been paroled from his seven to 25-year sentence for aggravated robbery. Both testified against Mahdi as part of plea agreements.

toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100107/NEWS24/1070382

[thinkinkmesa]

Man who killed Toledo store owner in 1993 scheduled to be executed this morning

When Vernon Smith enters the execution chamber for the 1993 shooting and killing of an Arab store owner, he'll do so as Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi.

It's unclear what role the shopkeeper's heritage played in the shooting, but his family members will find themselves 16 years later watching a fellow Muslim put to death.

Smith's execution, scheduled for 10 a.m. today, was to be the second using Ohio's unique single-drug lethal-injection method instead of its previous three-drug system. The state made history last month by becoming the first to execute an inmate, Kenneth Biros, with an intravenous infusion of only sodium thiopental, a common anesthetic.

Smith, 37, fasted from sunrise to sunset Wednesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility and then took a last meal of chopped and whole dates and hot tea with honey and lemon. He also requested a miswak, a Muslim teeth-cleaning implement, and olive oil to lubricate his beard.

With his legal appeals exhausted, he and his attorneys waited with anticipation until late Wednesday to hear whether Gov. Ted Strickland would grant him clemency. His attorneys had argued that a botched robbery attempt by a 21-year-old raised by an abusive stepfather is not what the death penalty was intended for.

Strickland disagreed, turning down Smith's plea for mercy. The governor agreed with the majority recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board.

Smith, who is black, was sentenced to death for killing 29-year-old Sohail Darwish, who was raised in Saudi Arabia. Smith, wielding a gun, and two friends entered Darwish's carryout store in Toledo, demanded cash and stole beer. When Darwish grabbed for his money, Smith shot him once in the chest.

Smith's friends told investigators that when he got back in their car, he said Darwish "shouldn't be in our neighborhood with a store, no way."

Darwish had a baby daughter, and his wife was pregnant with a second. Charlotte Darwish and her two girls -- Dolly, now 17, and Mona, 16 -- planned to witness Thursday's execution. Mona would be the youngest witness on record with the state, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said.

Charlotte Darwish told the Parole Board in early December that her husband was devoted to the store and his customers.

"My husband did belong in that neighborhood," she said. "He helped that neighborhood."

Smith's public defender Rob Lowe said evidence never bore out the allegation that Smith shot Darwish because he was Muslim.

"Because it was an interracial crime, there was one statement made by him as a reason, but there are a lot of other things that contradict that, that show this wasn't a racial crime," Lowe said. "The evidence all shows and statements show that he went in there to rob."

Lowe said Smith converted to Islam shortly after his arrest and has never indicated the decision was related to the crime.
blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/man_who_killed_toledo_store_ow.html

[thinkinkmesa]

Cross Post

Ohio Executes Man in Second Use of 1-Drug Method
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/07/us/AP-US-Ohio-Execution.html

[thinkinkmesa]

May God Have Mercy
gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2010/01/may-god-have-mercy.html

Two Lives Down the Drain
gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2010/01/two-lives-down-drain.html

Off With His Head
Or at least pump him full of thiopentol.
gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2010/01/off-with-his-head.html

[thinkinkmesa]

Killer recites Muslim prayer as he's put to death for murder of Toledo store owner


As he repeatedly recited a Muslim prayer in Arabic, Toledo native Vernon Lamont Smith took what appeared to be a deep yawn, fell unconscious, and became just the second person in the nation executed via a unique one-drug process Thursday.

"There's no god but God, and Muhammed is his prophet. That's what he's saying," said Charlotte Darwish, the widow of Smith's victim, as she watched the execution with her two daughters. It was a prayer she'd frequently heard her late husband, Sohail Darwish, recite.

Smith, who converted to Islam and legally changed his name to Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi while on death row, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville. He became the 34th person executed by the state since 1999.

On May 26, 1993, Mahdi, brandishing a gun, walked into the Woodstock Carryout in central Toledo with Herbert Bryson while Bryson's cousin, Lamont Layson, waited in the car. He shot the owner, Mr. Darwish, a 28-year-old Palestinian raised in Saudi Arabia who immigrated to Toledo. He left behind his wife, daughter Dolly, who was just shy of her first birthday, and daughter Mona, who was born three months later.

Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday denied Mahdi's request for clemency as his lawyers contended he hadn't intended to kill Mr. Darwish but rather thought he'd shot him in the arm. The bullet actually hit Mr. Darwish in the upper chest near his shoulder, severing an artery that led him to bleed to death.

The entire process lasted roughly 28 minutes. The prison execution team seemed to have little trouble finding usable veins through which a massive overdose of the powerful anesthetic thiopental sodium could flow.

Fourteen minutes into the process, he stood and was led the roughly 17 steps into the execution chamber. He appeared to make eye contact with his imam, Atef Hamed, as he entered the room. But after he was strapped onto the gurney, he stared only at the ceiling and appeared to be silently mouthing words to himself. He never looked at or addressed the Darwish family.

When the warden asked him if he had a final statement, he audibly repeated the prayer four times and then returned to repeating it silently. It was Mrs. Darwish who told others in the room, including media witnesses, what he was saying.

At 10:21 a.m. he fell silent, appeared to yawn once deeply, and then fell asleep. He appeared to stop breathing two minutes later. At 10:28, one of the medical team checked for a heartbeat. A curtain blocking the view of the room was closed as the coroner examined Mahdi.

When the curtain was reopened at 10:30, death was declared to have occurred two minutes earlier.

After leaving the death house, Mrs. Darwish said she found comfort in hearing Mahdi recite the prayer.

"There was no apology," Mrs. Darwish said. "However, he doesn't realize it, but I'm grateful… He has found Allah, or religion, or whatever it may be. Hence in time, none of us ever know when that may be, his soul may be saved."

Mrs. Darwish said she did have some second thoughts about whether her two daughters truly wanted to be with her as she watched her husband's killer die. But she said they assured her that they did.

Mona, at the age of 16, became the youngest witness of an Ohio execution since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. She did not talk to reporters.

Mrs. Darwish has since married Dennis Martin. The family now plans to move from Toledo to Alabama where Mr. Martin works.

Mahdi spent his final hours of life in prayer with a pair of Islamic imams and on the phone throughout the night and wee hours of the morning with family and a friend. Mahdi fasted Wednesday from sunrise to sunset, and was with Mr. Hamed when he broke that fast with a "special meal" of whole and chopped dates as well as hot tea with lemon and honey. He was also given a miswak, a tree branch used to clean teeth, as well as olive oil, which he used to lubricate his beard.

Since arriving at the prison Wednesday morning, he spent much of his time praying, engaging in ceremonial feet washing, reading, and talking on the telephone with someone identified as his wife, a cousin, a friend, and one of his state attorneys. He also wrote two letters to unidentified individuals that he asked be mailed after his death.

Ohio's unique new lethal injection protocol involves a massive overdose of the powerful anesthetic thiopental sodium. The prior procedure involved a series of three drugs.

Ohio remains the only state to use a one-drug process. It has yet to use the fallback process in the event the execution team fails to find usable veins—the direct injection of two drugs into muscle.

www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100107/NEWS24/1070382

[thinkinkmesa]

Family sees end of dad's killer
Second execution with single drug has no complications

As prison staffers prepared Vernon Smith to receive a fatal dose of an anesthetic, his victim's widow whispered to her daughter, "OK, so this is the beginning of the end, right, Mona?"
Mona Darwish, who was still in the womb when Smith fatally shot her father at a Toledo convenience store in 1993, nodded. About 25 minutes later, the 16-year-old became the youngest person to witness an execution in Ohio, at least since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

Smith, 37, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m. yesterday, eight minutes after staff members at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville administered a 5-gram dose of the powerful anesthetic sodium thiopental.

He was the second person in the country to be put to death using a single drug. The state had used a series of three chemicals but abandoned that protocol after executioners were unable to find a suitable vein to inject a convicted killer in September.

There were no complications with Smith's execution. He mouthed verses from the Quran as medics prepared him for injection, and his lips continued moving until about a minute after the chemical entered his body. After that, his mouth opened wide and his head jerked back, and then he was largely motionless.

Smith died without addressing the family of Sohail Darwish, whom Smith killed while robbing Darwish's Toledo carryout in May 1993. Smith and two accomplices demanded that Darwish turn over the cash from his cash register and wallet. Even though Darwish complied, Smith shot him once in the chest. Darwish, 28, bled to death.

Darwish's widow, Charlotte, and daughters Mona, now 16, and Dolly, 17, remained mostly silent as prison officials located a vein in Smith's left arm, inserted a needle and then pumped the fatal chemical into his bloodstream.

Smith converted to Islam while in prison and changed his name to Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi. Asked whether he wished to make a final statement, the condemned inmate, wearing a traditional Muslim kufi cap, repeated an Islamic creed in Arabic four times. The statement translates roughly to, "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet."

Addressing reporters after Smith was pronounced dead, Charlotte Darwish said she was neither surprised nor especially disappointed that Smith did not apologize.

"He doesn't realize it, but I am grateful that he recited that line," she said of the Islamic creed. "He has found Allah or religion, whatever that may be, hence in time -- none of us know when that may be -- his soul may be saved."

Although Smith was married, his wife did not witness his execution. His only witness was Atef Hamed, an imam. Hamed remained silent during the execution and did not speak to reporters afterward. He planned to officiate at an Islamic burial for Smith later in the day.

Charlotte Darwish has remarried and is moving to Alabama, where her husband works.

She closed Sohail Darwish's store after the murder. Yesterday, she remembered her late husband -- a Palestinian who was raised in Saudi Arabia -- for his enthusiasm about all things American.

"He loved the United States and he embraced everything it had to offer -- from the people to the food, everything about the United States," she said. "Things we take for granted."

To read more;
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/01/08/SMITH_EXECUTION.ART_ART_01-08-10_B1_IGG82BD.html?sid=101

[thinkinkmesa]

He killed her husband in cold blood, but the Toledo woman says she doesn't feel any better after witnessing the his execution.

Vernon Smith was put to death Thursday morning by the State of Ohio. He was convicted of killing Sohail Darwish during a 1993 robbery at a Toledo carryout.

Darwish's widow, Charlotte, and his two teenaged daughters were at the execution.

"I turn and I look, and here he is walking in front of me," Darwish said. "And my two girls, all of our eyes were fixed on him. And then suddenly, I realize, he and my oldest daughter Dolly have locked eyes and I'm looking at Dolly, I'm looking at him, my eyes are just twitching back and forth."

See the attached story about Smith's execution.

Darwish will talk with News 11 on Friday to share more details on the effect the execution will have on her family.

To read more or access video clip;
www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=11789169