William Zuern

William G. Zuern, formerly of Price Hill, died at 10:04am  for the murder of a Hamilton County jailer.
Zuern was sentenced to death for the fatal stabbing of Hamilton County corrections officer Phillip Pence 20 years ago.

His chest heaved several times, and his lips parted with slightly labored breathing for several minutes before his breathing stopped forever.
Zuern's face and shaved head turned lightly purple before prison officials drew a curtain between Zuern and the witnesses at 10:03 a.m. After a prison doctor performed a quick examination, the curtain was reopened and Warden James Haviland drew a microphone to his mouth and said, "Time of death 10:04 a.m."
Zuern was placed on his back on a padded table to be prepped for his death. Technicians placed shunts into both of his outstretched arms as Zuern alternately closed his eyes and narrowly opened them. His face remained stoic throughout the process, which took several minutes and caused him to bleed visibly out of his right arm. He was dressed in a prison-issued white shirt, blue pants with red stripes running down each side, and white socks. He wore his own brown hiking boots.
His head was shaven, and he wore a thick beard without a moustache.
Zuern complied with every command, lifting his hands to be placed in handcuffs before he was led into the death chamber.

The chamber was dimly lit with a tiled floor and cinder block walls painted white.
Warden Haviland picked up a microphone and asked, "Mr. Zuern, do you have any last statement you would like to make?"
"Nope," was Zuern's terse reply as he continued to stare at the ceiling.
He never turned to see witnesses in either of two small rooms that were separated from the death chamber by windows.
Haviland gave a secret command at 9:58 a.m. to begin injecting the drugs, and two officials turned on IVs to begin pouring drugs into his veins. Only one of the two cocktails contained the lethal drugs, and neither operator knew which one was real and which was harmless, according to Andrea Dean, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department for Rehabilitation and Correction.
Within two minutes, Zuern's breathing became faint, and within three, breathing was no longer visible. By 10:01, his head began turning purple.
After Zuern was pronounced dead, witnesses were led back through a courtyard where a black Cadillac hearse awaited.
Zuern was transported to a local funeral home and will be buried in a state-run cemetery adjacent to a prison in Chillicothe. His family did not have the means to arrange a private burial, Dean said.

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