14 DAY TRIAL // The state of Ohio continues its series of executions with the death of convicted killer Brett Hartman, on Tuesday, November 13.
Hartman was administered a lethal injection in Lucasville, Ohio state prison, yesterday morning. He was declared dead at 10:34 a.m., having passed away in 17 minutes. He was injected with a single dose of pentobarbital, cleveland.com reports.
He was found guilty of the brutal murder of Winda Snipes, from Akron, his lover at the time. In September 1997, Snipes was found bound at the ankles, in her South Highland Avenue apartment. According to the Washington Post, she had been stabbed 138 times, her throat was slit and her hands were cut off.
The state of Ohio resumed the death penalty in 1999. Hartman is number 49 in a series of serious offenders executed since.
38-year-old Hartman had long defended his innocence, admitting to having a relationship with Winda, 46, but never to ending her life.
DNA found at the scene, was a major factor in his conviction, ohio.com writes. So was the drunken 911 call he made reporting her death, which he then denied making.
He admitted to tempering with the crime scene, trying to cover up his presence in the apartment, but later stated he only did so out of fear of incrimination.
His execution was delayed twice, after several interventions. Attorneys argued that the evidence was circumstantial, asking why several items found at the crime scene were never tested against the suspect's DNA.
“All I'm guilty of is being a drunk. [...] I'd like people to look at this case more closely. Look at the facts. Look at the truth. I know a lot of things make me look bad on the surface. But the more you start to look at it, the more the state's case falls apart. So much of the case is a complete lie. It's all a fraud,” he said in a 2009 interview with Cleve Scene Magazine.
As it all came to an end, Hartman's only words were “I'm good, let's roll.”