Ernest Martin

Ernest Martin was executed by lethal injection. He was pronounced dead at 10:11 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Martin was convicted of killing Cleveland drug store owner Robert Robinson during a robbery in 1983. Martin made off with between $38 and $39 in the robbery.

Martin had claimed that another man committed the murder. However, he had dropped a claim of mental retardation and on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop the execution.

In his last words, Martin compared himself to Jesus Christ, who was slandered before his execution.

Andrea Dean, Spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Execution, says there were no execution witnesses representing Robinson’s family. She says it's the first time that's happened since the state resumed executions in 1999.

Timothy Payne, an assistant public defender representing Martin, told the Ohio Parole Board that Martin was enrolled in learning disabled classes in school and that his IQ was 77 then. The state says it has measured Martin's IQ at 91 and argues that he had the capability to write a 240-page autobiography.

An IQ of 70 or lower is generally considered one indicator of mental retardation, according to the American Association of Mental Retardation's guidelines.

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