{"id":1717,"date":"2012-09-20T09:29:59","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T09:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2012-09-20T09:32:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T09:32:44","slug":"ohio-set-to-execute-donald-palmer-for-double-murder-23-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=1717","title":{"rendered":"Ohio set to execute Donald Palmer for double murder 23 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Donald Palmer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Ohio death-row inmate set to be executed is sorry for killing two strangers 23 years ago and wants to give their families justice, according to the inmate’s attorney.<\/p>\n

Donald Palmer, 43, was in the state’s single-cell death house in Lucasville in southern Ohio as officials prepared to execute him by lethal injection at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) Thursday.<\/p>\n

His lawyer, David Stebbins said Wednesday that he doesn’t plan to file any other appeals on Palmer’s behalf and expects the execution to proceed.<\/p>\n

“He has always accepted responsibility for this and wants the families of his victims to have justice,” said Stebbins, who plans to be among the witnesses to the execution.<\/p>\n

Palmer was convicted of aggravated murder in the May 8, 1989, shooting deaths of Charles Sponhaltz and Steven Vargo along a Belmont County road in eastern Ohio. The married fathers both were shot in the head.<\/p>\n

Stebbins said that Palmer has wanted to apologize to his victims’ families but that he didn’t have the means to do so.<\/p>\n

Both Sponhaltz’s and Vargo’s widows planned to attend the execution, as well as Sponholtz’s two daughters and his brother.<\/p>\n

Palmer will be given an opportunity to say his last words before receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital.<\/p>\n

Palmer had decided not to request mercy from the Ohio Parole Board, which can recommend clemency for a condemned inmate to the governor.<\/p>\n

Belmont County prosecutor Christopher Berhalter told the board the execution should proceed because Palmer’s guilt is undisputed and because of the brutality of the crimes.<\/p>\n

According to court records, Palmer told police that he and co-defendant Edward Hill were driving from Columbus to the Belmont County home of a man who had dated Palmer’s ex-wife and Hill’s sister.<\/p>\n

As they were driving back and forth in front of the home, Sponhaltz – who was keeping an eye on the house – lightly hit the back of their pickup with his own truck and yelled at them: “What in the hell are you trying to prove?” according to the records.<\/p>\n

Palmer then shot Sponhaltz twice in the head.<\/p>\n

Vargo, a passing motorist, stopped and asked “What the hell did you guys do,” Palmer told police, according to the records. Palmer then shot Vargo twice in the head.<\/p>\n

Sponhaltz’s body was dumped in a field; Vargo’s was left on the road.<\/p>\n

Hill, 46, was convicted for his role in the crimes and sentenced to 35 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Valerie Vargo Jolliffee, 51, Vargo’s widow, told The Associated Press that she plans to attend Palmer’s execution because he ruined her life.<\/p>\n

She said that she and Vargo fell in love at first sight and had been married just two months when he was killed.<\/p>\n

“I was looking forward to growing old with him,” she said. “I just can’t wait until it’s over. And it won’t be over until they put him to death.”<\/p>\n

Corrections officials say Palmer asked that his last meal include a chipped ham and Velveeta cheese sandwich, Doritos, peanut M&Ms, hazelnut ice cream, cheese cake and soda.<\/p>\n

Ten Ohio inmates, including Palmer, are scheduled for execution through March 2014. Palmer will be the second this year if the execution goes forward.\u00a0 – AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Ohio death-row inmate set to be executed is sorry for killing two strangers 23 years ago and wants to give their families justice, according to the inmate’s attorney. Donald Palmer, 43, was in the state’s single-cell death house in Lucasville in southern Ohio as officials prepared to execute him by lethal injection at 10 … Continue reading “Ohio set to execute Donald Palmer for double murder 23 years ago”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[34,941,1216,1215,1217,40,264,1218],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-crime","tag-death-penalty","tag-donald-palmer","tag-execution","tag-lethal-injection","tag-murder","tag-ohio","tag-pentobarbital"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1720,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}