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LUCASVILLE — A Hamilton man was pronounced dead at 10:34 a.m. Wednesday after he was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility for the beating death of his estranged girlfriend Judy Gabbard in June 1993.
After Michael Benge, 49, entered the death chamber of the prison at 10:10 a.m., Gabbard’s daughter, Candy Gabbard; son, Steve Gabbard; and brother Frank Nistler, witnessed the execution.
Benge’s execution is Ohio’s eighth lethal injection in 2010 — the most in a year since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999. The previous high since was seven in 2004. The most executions occurred in 1949, when 15 men died by electric chair.
Randall Porter, Benge’s attorney from the Ohio Public Defenders Office, was the only witness representing the inmate.
Benge turned to look at Gabbard’s family and Porter as prison medical personnel fitted the drug tubes into shunts in his arms. Porter acknowledged him with a wave.
His glasses were removed and placed beside his head just before the lethal drug, thiopental sodium, began to flow.
Benge told Warden Donald Morgan he wanted to make a final statement.
“First and foremost, all praise and glory to God, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have caused you more pain than anyone should have to endure,” Benge said into the microphone he was holding, looking at the witnesses. “Both families have lost in the end.
“I can never apologize enough. I hope someday you will find peace in your heart. I hope you have room in your heart left for Jesus Christ. Without him, we are nothing. Like my brothers who have gone before me, I can’t apologize enough. Even now I am blessed.
“I hope my death gives you closure. That’s all I can ask. Praise God and thanks.”
Benge continued to talk to the warden and another staff as the drugs were entering his body. He let out a long breath, then his chest rose and fell several times, his mouth opening and closing.
Then he was still. His face was pale and his fingers, which were moving, stopped.
Medical personnel checked Benge’s heart and a five-minute countdown was called to let the drug take effect. Five minutes later, he was pronounced dead by a coroner.
Gabbard’s family members watched the television screen of Benge being prepared for the injection in his cell and while he took his last breaths. Candy Gabbard sipped from a soda once during the 33-minute process.
Kathy Johnson, Gabbard’s sister, represented her large family and friends with a short statement after the execution.
“We have been waiting for this for 17 years,” the Morgan Twp. woman said. “It makes us feel there was justice for my sister. Now my sister can rest in peace.”
Assistant prosecutor in Benge murder trial:'This is Judy’s justice’
Michael Benge slept soundly through his last night on Earth at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, waking at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday and then eating a breakfast of French toast and milk.
Five hours later, he was executed by lethal injection, carrying out the death sentence handed down by a Butler County jury almost 20 years ago.
He spent much of Tuesday evening visiting with his son, Michael, and daughter, Tabitha, as well as his mother, aunts and uncles.
He prayed with prison clergy Tuesday afternoon and listened to the radio between calls back and forth to family, according to prison officials.
Benge’s special meal Tuesday was served to him shortly after 8 p.m. It consisted of a large chef salad with bleu cheese and ranch dressing, a slab of barbecue baby back ribs, two cans of salted cashews and two bottles of sweetened tea.
He ate the ribs, nuts, half the salad and drank one bottle of tea, said Richard Chuvalas, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokesman.
Among his belongings in the cell since being transported to the prison’s death house Tuesday morning were a legal tablet, seven envelopes, an address book, a Bible, eyeglasses, a pencil and a package of M&Ms.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, after Benge’s last visit with family in front of his cell just 17 steps from the death chamber, his mother took possession of his belongings. He gave his Bible to his son. A gray hearse awaited his body outside the death house.
“The visits (Wednesday) morning were very emotional,” said Julie Walburn, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman.
Benge was convicted of beating 38-year-old Gabbard 17 years ago and throwing her body, weighted with concrete, into the Great Miami River.
Gabbard’s car was found abandoned and bloody Feb. 1, 1993, on the west side of the river. After a search, Hamilton police found her body in the river.
She had been struck nearly a dozen times with a tire iron, leaving severe gashes on her head and face, Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said.
Kathy Johnson, Gabbard’s sister, thanked Piper for his work in the case 17 years ago, noting he also recently fought for Benge’s sentence to be carried out . Piper pleaded their case during a clemency hearing in September.
The board later unanimously recommended Benge’s sentence not be commuted, and Gov. Ted Strickland on Tuesday denied clemency.
Piper was an assistant prosecutor when he represented the state in Benge’s trial. He said he intended to witness the execution to support the family. But Piper was unable to make the trip because he is in the middle of another capital murder case. Benge’s defense attorney in 1993, Greg Howard, also is defending the accused, Calvin McKelton, in this week’s trial. The Butler County Common Pleas judge presiding over the McKelton trial, Michael Sage, was also the judge in the Benge trial.
“I wanted to see it through to the end,” Piper said, “But I can’t because I am in another very important trial.”
He added that it is right that the jury’s verdict be carried out.
“This is Judy’s justice,” Piper said. “It is not something we celebrate, but it is the law.”
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