28 September 2005 :

the state of Ohio executed Herman Ashworth, a 32-year-old man who admitted killing another man in a $40 robbery and had waived most of his appeals, saying he deserved to die. Officials at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility said Ashworth was pronounced dead at 10:19 am local time after an injection of lethal chemicals. 
Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Ashworth stayed awake all night, trying to reach his adoptive parents in Louisiana who had planned to fly to Ohio for the execution but were unable to reach an airport because of hurricane damage.
Ashworth had pleaded guilty to killing Daniel Baker, 40, not long after meeting him at a bar in Newark, Ohio, in 1996.
In ruling that the execution should proceed, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said Ashworth assaulted and robbed Baker "for $40 in drinking money" and then returned to where he had left him unconscious and savagely beat him, for fear of being identified.
"Mr. Ashworth's decision to plead guilty and failure to offer any mitigating evidence has been exhaustively reviewed by both the state and federal courts, and five medical experts have confirmed his competency to do so," Taft said.
"He has steadfastly maintained his desire to waive any further appeals of his sentence, and has not asked for clemency," he added.
It was the 40th execution in the United States this year and the 984th since capital punishment was restored in 1976. Ashworth was the second person executed in Ohio this year and the 17th since the state resumed executions in 1999.