Kenneth Biros (June 24, 1958 – December 8, 2009) was an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to death and executed for the aggravated murder, attempted rape, aggravated robbery and felonious sexual penetration of a young woman. Biros was the first condemned person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States with the use of a single drug, setting a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

Murder

Biros admitted to killing 22-year-old Tami Engstrom during February 1991 in a fit of rage. Biros then cut up the body and spread numerous parts over a wide territory encompassing portions of northeast

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and northwest

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Conviction

Biros was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted rape, aggravated robbery and felonious sexual penetration and

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. He was originally sentenced to die by means of lethal injection at 10:00a.m. on March 20, 2007. This would have been the first execution during Governor

Ted Strickland Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the 68th governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ...

's administration. Governor Strickland denied Biros clemency on March 16, 2007. However, on that day the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

upheld the ruling of the

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of K ...

that Biros' execution should be stayed to allow him to continue to argue his case that Ohio's lethal injection is

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...

. He was then transferred from Ohio's death row at the

Ohio State Penitentiary The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) is a 502-inmate capacity supermax Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison in Youngstown, Ohio. Throughout the last two centuries, there have been two institutions with the name Ohio Penitent ...

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

to the

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville) is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood. The ...

in Lucasville. On April 24, 2009,

Trumbull County Trumbull County is a county in the far northeast portion of U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 201,977. Its county seat is Warren, which developed industry along the Mahoning River. Trumbull County is part of the ...

Prosecutor Dennis Watkins requested the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date after a federal judge decided on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, that Ohio's execution method was flawed, but not unconstitutional. The

Supreme Court of Ohio The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

later set a new execution date for December 8, 2009.

Execution

Biros was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

on December 8, 2009, at 11:00a.m. at the

Lucasville, Ohio Lucasville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,757 at the 2010 census. Lucasville is the location of the Scioto County Fairgrounds. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Ohio's one of ...

. His execution was originally scheduled for 10:00a.m., but was later delayed until 11:00a.m. He was pronounced dead at 11:47a.m. Biros was the first person on death row in America to be executed with a lethal dose of a single in this case, the

barbiturate Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as we ...

general anaesthetic General anaesthetics (or anesthetics, see spelling differences) are often defined as compounds that induce a loss of consciousness in humans or loss of righting reflex in animals. Clinical definitions are also extended to include an induced coma ...

sodium thiopental Sodium thiopental, also known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anesthetic. It is the thiobarbiturate analog of pe ...

. Biros Executed; First Death Using New Method

References

External links

Attorney General dismisses Biros’ latest arguments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biros, Kenneth 1958 births 1991 murders in the United States 2009 deaths 21st-century executions by Ohio 21st-century executions of American people American people executed for murder People convicted of murder by Ohio People executed by Ohio by lethal injection People from Trumbull County, Ohio

Murder

Conviction

Execution

See also

References

External links