R.I.P. Daniel Lee Bedford

Roman Colosseum lit to protest an execution

On May 17, 2011, Ohio executed Daniel Lee Bedford for the 1984 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Gwen Toepfert, and her boyfriend John Smith.  Bedford's counsel argued that  he had dementia and a mild mental disability and wasn't competent enough to understand why he was being executed.  Bedford had claimed not to remember the shooting.  A federal district court judge granted a stay, but the stay was vacated by the court of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reinstate it.   Bedford was executed after the prison staff appeared to have some difficulty inserting the IVs into his arms.

This is the 16th execution in the United States this year, the fourth in Ohio.