Hurricane Kept Killer’s Parents from Seeing Son Before Execution

Herman Ashworth, a convicted killer in Columbus, Ohio, was executed this week morning for robbing and beating a man to death in 1996. His parents, who are divorced and live in southwestern Louisiana, had been scheduled to fly out from Houston to visit their son one last time before he was put to death, but the airports in Texas were shut down by the effects of Hurricane Rita. Their flight was rescheduled to Baton Rouge, but a combination of a lack of electricity at their home and concerns about gasoline shortages and flooding prevented them from making that flight. Ashworth was put to death Tuesday morning by lethal injection after uttering his last words, "A life for a life, let it be done and justice will be served."

Ashworth pleaded guilty in 1997 to aggravated murder and robbery in the killing of Daniel Baker, 40. Ashworth and Baker met at the Wagon Wheel bar and spent the evening drinking before Ashworth beat Baker to death in an alley behind the bar and robbed him of $40. Ashworth plead guilty to the crime and said that he deserved to die. He said he believed in the death penalty and didn’t want to life out his life behind bars.

Ashworth’s parents, who adopted him as an infant, had not planned to witness the execution but had planned to be in Columbus when their son died. Ashworth had little sleep in the nights before his execution and was unsuccessful in reaching his parents by telephone because of the chaos caused by Hurricane Rita. He was finally able to reach them on Monday so that they were able to talk a little with their son one last time before he was put to death. He had a two-hour visit from his attorney Monday night after being served his final dinner. Ashworth is the fourth condemned prisoner in Ohio to drop his appeals since the state resumed executions in 1999.