John W

John W. Byrd Jr., 38, was declared dead at 10:09 a.m. today at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Byrd, who says he's innocent and that a robbery accomplice committed the crime, had selected the electric chair as his method of execution, to protest the brutality of capital punishment. However, Gov. Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill in November that banned the use of the electric chair, leaving injection as the only method of execution. Byrd was sentenced to death for the 1983 slaying of Monte B. Tewksbury, 40.