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Ohio Executes Man for Two Murders
By SARAH ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago
LUCASVILLE, Ohio - Ohio carried out the nation's 999th execution since 1977 on Tuesday, putting to death a man who strangled his mother-in-law while high on cocaine and later killed his 5-year-old stepdaughter to cover up the crime.
John Hicks, 49, was put to death a day after Eric Nance was executed in Arkansas for killing a teenager by slashing her throat with a box cutter. The 1,000th execution since the death penalty was reinstated is likely to come as soon as Wednesday, when Robin Lovitt is set to die in Virginia for fatally stabbing a man with scissors during a pool hall robbery.
On Monday, Gov. Bob Taft had refused to commute Hicks' sentence from death to life in prison, said Andrea Dean, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Hicks offered a tearful apology for the 1985 murders in an interview earlier this month with Ohio Parole Board members, and said he loved both victims - 56-year-old Maxine Armstrong and 5-year-old Brandy Green. He detailed the killings and said his cocaine high made him desperate and paranoid. Hicks had traded his VCR for about $50 worth of cocaine, court records show. After taking the drugs, he realized that he needed to get the VCR back before his wife wondered where it was, so he decided to steal money from Armstrong.
Hicks found his stepdaughter asleep on the couch at Armstrong's apartment. He woke her and brought her to bed and then strangled Armstrong, first with his hands and then with a clothesline. He left her apartment with about $300 and some credit cards. He used some of the money to buy back his VCR and purchase more cocaine. Realizing Green could identify him as the last person at the apartment, he returned and attempted to suffocate the 5-year-old with a pillow then strangle her with his hands. She struggled, and Hicks covered her mouth and nose with duct tape. He left Cincinnati, but turned himself in to police in Knoxville, Tenn.
Hicks was the fourth person executed in Ohio this year and the 19th since the state resumed executions in 1999.
Lucasville is about a 30-minute drive from my house.