ESEGUITA UNA CONDANNA IN OHIO

NEW YORK, 30 MAR - L'Ohio ha eseguito la condanna a morte di un uomo che era stato ritenuto colpevole di aver ucciso e smembrato una coppia nel 1982, dopo un litigio per motivi di droga.

William Wickline, 52 anni, e' stato dichiarato morto alle 10:11 (le 17:11 in Italia), dopo aver ricevuto un'iniezione letale nel carcere di Lucasville.

Wickline si professava innocente e le sue ultime parole sono state contro i giudici, mossi a suo avviso da motivi politici. 

La sua condanna era stata decisa soprattutto in base alla deposizione dell'ex fidanzata, che ha sostenuto di essere stata presente quando Wickline uccise Peggy Lerch, 25 anni e il marito Christopher, 28 anni. I corpi sarebbero stati smembrati e non sono mai stati trovati.

Si tratta della 21ma persona che viene giustiziata negli Usa dall'inizio dell'anno e del detenuto numero 906 a morire legalmente da quando, nel 1976, gli Stati Uniti hanno reintrodotto la pena di morte.

OHIO - State executes man convicted in dismemberment slayings

In Lucasville, a man was executed Tuesday for strangling an unconscious woman with a rope after slitting her husband's throat over a $6,000 drug debt. The only witness said the former prison slaughterhouse worker cut up the bodies, which were never found.

William D. Wickline, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:11 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

Wickline's final statement was, "May tomorrow see the courts shaped by more wisdom and less politics."

He slept about 5 hours Monday night and visited with his attorneys and two brothers early Tuesday, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the state prison system. She said Wickline showered and shaved, and had 2 cups of coffee and Rice Krispies cereal. He then read the Bible and prayed.

A 3-judge panel convicted Wickline in 1985 of killing Christopher and Peggy Lerch in his Columbus apartment three years earlier. The bodies of the couple from Blendon Township north of Columbus were never found.

His death sentence was for the slaying of Mrs. Lerch, 24, because the judges said she was killed to cover another crime. He was sentenced to life in prison for killing Chris Lerch, 28.

Wickline's former girlfriend testified he used a saw to butcher the bodies and had a friend help him throw the bagged parts in trash bins around Columbus. Teresa Kemp's story matched that of police informants who didn't testify.

Wickline becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Ohio and the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death overall since capital punishment was resumed there in 1999.

Wickline becomes the 21st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 906th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.