conviction_status death_date death_place conviction birth_place image_size conviction_penalty image_caption birth_date article_title name image_name
deceased 27 september 2005 ohio , u.s. aggravated murder new orleans , louisiana , u.s. 200 px death sentence mug shot of herman ashworth . 26 february 1973 herman ashworth
 herman ashworth.jpg herman ashworth.jpg
herman ashworth

herman dale ashworth -lrb- 26 february 1973 -- 27 september 2005 -rrb- was a murderer executed by the u.s. state of ohio .
he admitted to the aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the beating death of daniel l. baker on 10 september 1996 .
he was executed by lethal injection at the southern ohio correctional facility after spending 8 years , three months , and 11 days on death row .
ashworth met baker for the first time while drinking at the wagon wheel , a bar in newark , ohio .
they went to another bar , and while returning to the wagon wheel at around 9 p.m. , ashworth took baker into an alley where he beat him with his fists , feet and a 6-foot board .
ashworth would later say that baker made unwanted sexual advances to him .
ashworth took $ 40 and three credit cards from baker 's wallet and went back to the wagon wheel .
later he took his then-girlfriend , tanna brett , to the alley and found baker still alive .
they went to another bar but ashworth left , saying he would make sure baker could not identify him .
brett returned to the alley and heard a metallic sound and found baker 's body near a metal loading dock door .
a deputy-coroner would later testify that baker 's injuries were consistent with a high-speed traffic accident or plane crash .
baker 's body was later found at 3:45 a.m. by a couple walking a dog .
thirty minutes later , ashworth made an anonymous 9-1-1 call to inform police of the beating .
the call was traced and ashworth was arrested .
he pleaded guilty at his trial and waived the right to present mitigating evidence .
his defense lawyer did not cross-examine any witnesses .
in may 2005 , he dismissed his lawyers who were trying to keep him alive .
on 31 august 2005 ashworth refused to appear before a hearing of the ohio parole board , which recommended that he be executed .
governor bob taft issued a statement on 23 september saying he was denying clemency .
ashworth is the fourth ohio prisoner to drop his appeals since the death penalty was resumed in the state in 1999 .
due to hurricane rita his adoptive parents were unable to visit their son before the execution .
they had not planned to witness the execution .
for his last meal he ordered two cheeseburgers with lettuce and mayonnaise and french fries with ketchup , and drank one dr pepper and one mountain dew .
the prison medical technicians took ten minutes to insert the catheter into his arm .
in his final statement , he said , `` a life for a life , let it be done and justice will be served . ''
he was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m. est. .
