Nation - Ohio 'Homicidal Hitchhiker' faces death Man preyed on motorists for 3 weeks in 1983

By Julie Carr Smyth AP Statehouse Correspondent LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay of execution Thursday to a hitchhiker who admitted to killing a motorist and trying to kill two other drivers who gave him rides. Michael Beuke faced his execution later Thursday morning after a quarter century on death row and what he said was his spiritual conversion. His attorney indicated all appeals had been exhausted. Beuke, dubbed by the media as the "homicidal hitchhiker," terrorized an Ohio community for three weeks in 1983 in a shooting spree along Cincinnati-area roads. He since has expressed remorse and said in an unsuccessful request for clemency that he accepted responsibility for his crimes and prayed "that God will ease the pain I have caused my victims." Beuke was emotional as he faced execution, crying frequently in his cell near the state's death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said Thursday. Beuke was convicted Oct. 5, 1983, of aggravated murder for the death of Robert Craig, 27, of Cincinnati and was sentenced to death. He also was found guilty of the attempted slayings of Gregory Wahoff of Cincinnati and Bruce Graham, then from West Harrison, Ind. Late Wednesday night, he lost appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, failing to convince the majority that he's been on death row so long the execution would be unconstitutionally cruel and would serve no purpose and that prescription medicine he takes could interfere with a drug used in Ohio's backup execution method. Federal public defender Dale Baich said Beuke's appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court had been the last still pending, relating to a previously unsuccessful claim that brain damage contributed to his violent behavior. His lawyers said recent brain scans and expert conclusions show Beuke suffers from moderate to severe brain damage. The appeal was turned down Thursday morning, less than an hour before the scheduled execution. "All legal matters have ended," Baich said. If executed, he would become the 38th person put to death in Ohio since the state resumed the practice in 1999. Beuke was transferred to the Lucasville prison on Wednesday. He turned down an elaborate special meal, as the last meal is known in Ohio, and selected the regular prison dinner of chicken a la king, mashed potatoes and lima beans instead. But he later refused that meal and asked that it be given to a homeless person instead, a request the prison could not meet. The food was taken back to the kitchen to be discarded, Walburn said. Preceding the high court decision, Gov. Ted Strickland denied Beuke's clemency request, saying he was following the Ohio Parole Board's unanimous recommendation against mercy. Strickland and the board both rejected claims by Beuke that brain damage from a childhood fall and drug and alcohol abuse were responsible for his actions. Beuke almost got a reprieve earlier this week when the state temporarily had trouble procuring enough of the anesthetic Ohio uses to put inmates to death because of a worldwide shortage of the drug. But the prisons department said Monday it had finally found enough thiopental sodium for the execution. At issue was having enough for the execution as well as extra doses on hand. Wahoff gave Beuke a ride May 14, 1983, and was forced at gunpoint to drive to rural Hamilton County. Wahoff tried to run but was shot in the back and face and left for dead. He was paralyzed for life, and died four years ago. Craig's body was found June 1, 1983, in a roadside ditch in nearby Clermont County. He had been shot twice in the head and once in the chest with the same revolver used to shoot Wahoff and later Graham. Graham saw Beuke walking with a gas can and gave him a ride June 3, 1983. Beuke forced Graham to drive to a rural Indiana area and shot but didn't kill him. Beuke has said he committed the crimes because he needed $2,500 to hire an attorney to defend him on a drug trafficking charge and needed a stolen car to rob a bank for the money. Graham, now of Rising Sun, Ind., met with Beuke in March and forgave him. He asked the parole board to spare Beuke's life, writing that Beuke had been reformed. Beuke's attorneys and a retired Orthodox priest who visits him also say he is a changed man. Craig and Wahoff's widows said remorse cannot alter what Beuke did and he deserves to die. Authorities were tipped to Beuke's identity by a co-worker who said Beuke told him he was the man wanted in the hitchhiker shootings. Authorities found a cup from Wahoff's car and other evidence in Beuke's vehicle. He was carrying the gun when he was arrested. Published: Fri, May 14, 2010

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