Supreme Court of Ohio

Summary:

The 37 year old Mink lived with his elderly parents in Union, 10 miles from Dayton, Ohio. On the evening of September 19th, 2000, as his parents slept,

Mink became angry because they had hidden his car keys. They had done so in the past to prevent him from leaving the house to purchase drugs and alcohol.

Mink went to their bedroom and beat both of them with a claw hammer, until the hammer broke, next he beat them with cutting boards, until they broke, and then he repeatedly stabbed his parents with kitchen knives and strangled his mother with an electrical cord.

Mink then stole his parents' credit cards and sold their belongings to purchase crack cocaine.

The bodies of 79 year old William Minks and 72 year old Sheila Minks were found four days after they were slain when their daughters drove to the apartment to check on them and then called police.

Mink turned himself in and eventually confessed to the murders. He pled guilty to the charges and waived appeals.

Final Meal:

On Monday, Mink requested for his special meal a T-bone steak; baked potato with sour cream and butter; steamed broccoli and cauliflower; a hamburger with cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard; french fries with extra salt and Pepsi. Mink finished everything except the broccoli. In the morning before his 10:26 am execution, Mink smoked cigarettes and drank coffee but didn't eat.

Final Words:

"I just thank you for giving me the chance to make a final statement. I have made peace with my family and God."

ClarkProsecutor.org

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Inmate #: 413511
Inmate: SCOTT ANDREW MINK
Race: White
Gender: Male
DOB: 10/13/63
County of Conviction: MONTGOMERY
Received at DOC: 07/11/01
Offenses: AGGRAVATED MURDER, AGGRAVATED ROBBERY, THEFT
Institution: Mansfield Correctional Institution

Scott Mink Clemency Report

STATE OF OHIO
ADULT PAROLE AUTHORITY
COLUMBUS, OHIO

Date of Meeting: July 9, 2004 - Minutes of the SPECIAL MEETING of the Adult Parole Authority held at 1030 Alum Creek Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43205.

IN RE: SCOTT A. MINK # 413511 MANCI
SUBJECT: Death Penalty Clemency
CRIME, CONVICTION: Aggravated Murder (4 cts), with two death penalty specifications Aggravated Robbery (2 cts)
DATE, PLACE OF CRIME: September 19, 2000 Union, Ohio
COUNTY: Montgomery
CASE NUMBER: 00CR2900
VICTIM: William Mink, Shelia Mink

INDICTMENT: Aggravated Robbery (serious harm) 2 counts, Aggravated Murder -2 counts (with prior calculation/design) Aggravated Murder – 2 counts (while committing robbery)

Death Penalty Specifications to each Murder count: 1. Escape detection or apprehension. 2. Committing or attempting Aggravated Robbery. 3. Conduct killing two or more people.

PLEA: Guilty (3 judge panel)
VERDICT: Guilty to indictment (3 judge panel)
SENTENCE: Death, 9 years imprisonment
ADMITTED TO INSTITUTION: July 11, 2001
TIME SERVED: 37 months
AGE AT ADMISSION: 37 years old, DOB: October 13, 1963
JAIL TIME CREDIT: 13 days
PAROLE ELIGIBILITY: N/A
PRESIDING JUDGE: Honorable David Sunderland, Honorable Gregory L. Frost, Honorable Gregory A. Godown
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: Matthias H. Heck, Jr.
ACCOMPLICE: None

FOREWORD:

The Honorable Bob Taft, Governor of the State of Ohio, and the Ohio Parole Board pursuant to section 2967.03 of the Ohio Revised Code, and Parole Board Policy 105- PBD-01 initiated clemency in this case. A Death Penalty Clemency Review Hearing was conducted on July 9, 2004, with seven members of the Ohio Parole Board participating. Attorney Gary Crimm represented Scott Mink. Present at the hearing, on behalf of the State, were Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutors Dan Brandt and Carley Ingram. After reviewing the information provided and deliberating, the Parole Board voted and reached a unanimous decision. We now submit to the Honorable Bob Taft, Governor of the State of Ohio our report and recommendation.

OFFENSE:

The following account of the instant crime was obtained from the Ohio Supreme Court’s review of this case on April 14, 2004, via appeal as of right, whereupon said court affirmed the conviction and sentence imposed by the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

The evidence at trial revealed that in September, 2000, Scott A. Mink, 36 years old, resided with his parents, 79-year-old William and 72-year-old Sheila Mink, in their second-floor duplex apartment in Union, Ohio. Mink used illegal drugs while living with his parents. As his drug use increased, his parents set curfew limits and restrictions on the use of his truck.

In early to mid-September, 2000, Mink’s parents informed Mink that he would not be allowed to join them in their move to a smaller apartment. On September 18, 2000 William G. Mink, Mink’s brother, asked Mink about his moving plans, and he replied, “kind of nasty like, … don’t worry about it, I’ve got a plan”.

Around 9:00 p.m. on September 19, 2000, Mink and Bryan Werling were drinking and smoking crack cocaine at Werling’s apartment in West Milton. Around 9:30 p.m., Mink’s parents called Mink at Werling’s apartment and told Mink to return home. Mink then departed and told Werling that “he had to get home or he wasn’t going to have a place to stay.”

At approximately 10:00 p.m., Mink arrived home. After his parents went to bed, Mink looked for his truck keys so that he could leave the apartment and get more drugs. Mink was unable to find the keys, and after realizing that his parents had hidden them, he had a “fit of uncontrollable rage”.

According to his subsequent confession, Mink went into his parents’ bedroom sometime after 11:20 p.m. They were sleeping on adjacent twin beds, and he repeatedly hit them with a hammer. The hammer broke while he was striking them. Mink left his parents’ bedroom and returned with two kitchen knives and an extension cord. Mink then stabbed each of them several times. One knife broke during the attack, and Mink left the other knife in his mother’s chest. Mink also strangled his mother with the extension cord. Finally, Mink repeatedly struck both parents with two cutting boards that he had taken from the kitchen. After one cutting board broke, Mink reassembled it and put it back on the kitchen counter.

Following the attack, Mink washed up and put on fresh clothes. Mink then took $7 and a British Petroleum (“BP”) credit card from his father’s wallet and took his mother’s Bank One card. After finding his truck keys, Mink left the apartment, went to a Bank One automatic teller machine, and withdrew $10 from his parents’ account. Mink then purchased what he thought was crack for $20. Around 1:30 or 2:30 a.m. on September 20, 2000 Mink returned home and discovered that the crack was not real. Mink then took five or six of his mother’s tranquilizers and went to sleep.

Mink woke up in the late afternoon of September 20, 2000. Mink then moved his father’s body off his bed and laid him on top of his mother’s body, which was lying between the twin beds. He covered the bodies with blankets to keep them out of view. Later that evening, Mink traded his father’s Ford Escort to a drug dealer for $ 50 to $ 100 worth of rock cocaine.

Around 5:00 a.m. on September 21, 2000 Mink phoned James Ornduff to ask whether he knew anyone interested in buying a television. Mink said that his “parents were out of town and he was trying to get some money up for groceries.” Mink then drove to East Dayton, where he exchanged his parents’ television for $30 worth of crack. Mink also used his father’s BP credit card to purchase cigarettes, beer, and a gallon of milk.

Later on the same morning, Mink called Ornduff again and requested his help in selling a recliner, a microwave, a couple of pictures, a clock, and a watch. Mink said that his parents were on vacation and that they wanted him to clean out the garage. Mink loaded the property in his truck and transported it to Ornduff. Mink returned home around noon.

Mink’s three sisters and his brother lived in the Dayton area and frequently visited and talked with their parents on the phone. The sisters became concerned about their parents after they were unable to contact them on September 20th. Around noon on September 21st, the sisters drove to their parents’ apartment to check on their well-being.

When the sisters pulled into the driveway, they saw Mink entering their parents’ apartment. The sisters then pounded on the front door and shouted for Mink to come out. When Mink answered the door, he would not let his sisters inside the apartment and said that he did not know the whereabouts of their parents. The sisters left to notify the police. As they arrived at the police department, which was a short distance behind their parents’ apartment, the sisters saw Mink walking to his truck.

The sisters confronted Mink in the parking lot and asked for the keys to the apartment. One of them asked, “Scott, did you hurt Mom and Dad? And he said no. Mink then gave them the keys and drove away. The sisters entered the front door of the apartment, which opened into their parents’ darkened bedroom. They did not recognize that their parents’ bodies were under blankets between the beds. However, the sisters knew that something was wrong because their father’s glasses and billfold were on the dresser even though the car was gone. The sisters left the apartment and called the police.

At 12:41 p.m. on September 21, 2000 Officer Darrin Goudy, a Union police officer, was dispatched to the Minks’ apartment to check on the welfare of the residents. After talking to the three sisters outside, Officer Goudy entered the apartment and found the bodies of William and Sheila lying between the beds. Police secured the crime scene, obtained a search warrant, and began collecting evidence.

William’s body was found lying on top of Sheila’s body, and their clothing and the surrounding floor were covered in blood. A kitchen knife was sticking out of Sheila’s chest, and a cord was wrapped around her neck. The head of a broken hammer, a knife blade, and a wooden cutting board were on the floor near the bodies. The hammer handle and the knife handle were under the blankets and sheets on a bed. Blood spatters were found on a roll of carpet padding underneath the bed, suggesting that the victims were also attacked while on the floor.

Police found a bloody wood-cutting board on the kitchen counter that had been broken into three pieces and reassembled. An empty microwave stand in the kitchen and an open space near a loose TV cable in the living room suggested that property had been taken from the apartment. The police also found a pair of bloody sneakers and a bloody teeshirt in Mink’s separate bedroom.

On September 22, 2000 police contacted Ornduff after phone records showed that Mink had talked with him a number of times after the murders. Police then seized the television, recliner, microwave, two pictures, and a wall clock that Mink had transferred to Ornduff. Additionally, police learned that Mink had used or attempted to use his father’s BP card seven or eight times after the murders. The police also located and seized William Mink’s Ford Escort, which Mink had exchanged for drugs. Subsequent, laboratory testing confirmed the presence of blood on the driver’s side seat belt and the driver’s side door.

After leaving his sisters at the apartment on September 21, 2000 Mink stayed on a farm near Tipp City. Around 8:00 p.m. on September 24, 2000 Mink turned himself in at the Tipp City Police Department. Mink stated that he had “done something awful and had woke up in a field somewhere west of Tipp City.” Mink was then arrested and taken into police custody.

Around 11:00 p.m. on September 24, 2000 Detective Rick Bergman and Detective Thomas Peed interviewed Mink about William’s and Sheila’s murders. Mink was advised of his Miranda rights, which he waived. Mink provided detailed oral and written accounts of the murders that reflect the facts already described. Mink also gave a videotaped interview admitting his guilt.

Dr. Kent Harshbarger, Deputy Coroner for Montgomery County, performed autopsies on both victims. William was stabbed 13 times, suffered at least 13 blunt-force impacts to the head, and endured four blunt-force impacts on the rest of his body. Other injuries on William’s hand, wrist, and lower leg were defensive injuries and showed that William had been alive and defended against the attacks. William died from “multiple trauma, which consisted of blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds.”

Sheila suffered nine blunt-force impacts to the head, four stab wounds to her chest and back, and 33 superficial stab wounds. The knife protruding into her chest extended four to four-and-one-half inches into her right lung. Sheila’s blunt-force injuries were consistent with blows caused by the cutting board and hammer found at the scene. Sheila also suffered fractured bones in her neck due to strangulation and “was alive when all those injuries were inflicted.”

Dr. Harshbarger concluded that Sheila died from “multiple traumatic injuries, which include blunt force injuries, stab wounds and strangulation.” Mink was subsequently indicted on four counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of his parents. Count 3 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of William with prior calculation and design, and Count 4 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of William during commission of a robbery. Count 5 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of Sheila with prior calculation and design, and Count 6 charged Mink with the aggravated murder of Sheila during commission of a robbery. Additionally, Mink was charged with aggravated robbery of William in Count 1 and aggravated robbery of Sheila in Count 2.

The four counts of aggravated murder each contained three identical death penalty specifications: murder to escape detection or apprehension, R.C. 2929.04(A)(3), murder while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery, R.C. 2929.04(A)(7), and murder as a “course of conduct” involving killing two or more people, RC. 2929.04(A)(5).

At trial, Mink waived counsel and pled guilty. After reviewing court-ordered competency evaluations and questioning Mink about his decisions, the court ruled that Mink was competent to stand trial, competent to waive counsel and represent himself, and competent to waive a jury trial. His counsel were ordered to remain as his legal advisors. Before the three-judge panel, Mink entered pleas of guilty, and the State presented evidence of his guilt The panel found Mink guilty of Counts 1 through 6 and Specifications 2 and 3 of Counts 3 through 6. The panel found Mink not guilty of Specification 1 of Counts 3 through 6.

During the penalty phase, Mink waived the presentation of mitigating evidence and requested the death penalty. After finding that Mink was competent to waive mitigation, the court sentenced Mink to death for the murders and to prison terms for the remaining offenses.

PRIOR RECORD:

Juvenile: None Adult: 7/20/00 Theft Dayton, Ohio 7/10/01: 6 months (2000CR2162) concurrent with 2000CR2900.

Details: The offender was an employee of Ferrell Gas. On 7/13/00 he took the following items without permission from the company: power washer, vacuum, microwave oven, computer, monitor and printer. He sold the computer, monitor, and printer for $20.00 crack cocaine. At a later time he sold the power washer, vacuum, and microwave oven for another $20.00 crack cocaine.

INSTITUTIONAL ADJUSTMENT:

For the offense of Breaking & Entering 2000CR2162, Scott Mink was initially referred for Diversion. However, the defendant was rejected for Diversion on 8/31/00, because of an admitted crack cocaine problem for which he was receiving inpatient treatment at Good Samaritan Hospital Mental Unit. Found to be an inappropriate candidate for Diversion, the case was referred to the grand jury. Since his 7/11/01 admission to prison, Scott Mink’s adjustment has been unremarkable. He has had no serious conduct reports and no program achievement.

PROPONENTS TO CLEMENCY:

The Ohio Parole Board received no written application for clemency on Mink’s behalf and Mink himself elected not to be interviewed by a member of the Board. Attorney Gary Crimm represented Mr. Mink at the clemency hearing conducted July 9, 2004. In a very brief statement, Mr. Crimm indicated that Mr. Mink has always admitted killing his parents, offered no mitigation at trial, and does not wish that clemency be granted. No mitigation was offered. Mr. Crimm offered no closing remarks. The Ohio Parole Board received two letters from residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom requesting commutation to life imprisonment. Both letters cite Mr. Mink’s admission to the crimes, waiver of counsel and mitigation, as well as his medical history of depression, suicide attempts and addiction.

OPPONENTS TO CLEMENCY:

Daniel Brandt and Carley Ingram, Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutors, represented the State of Ohio at the hearing before the Parole Board on July 9, 2004. Arguments offered in opposition to the granting of Executive Clemency included:

• There exists no doubt that Mink committed the crimes for which he received the death penalty. He turned himself in four days after the killings and confessed to what he had done.

• Mink told his lawyers that he wanted to plead guilty to the charges and he did not want to offer any evidence in mitigation. Mink’s lawyers informed the court that Mink intended to plead guilty and present no mitigation, and that an independent examiner had determined that Mink was competent to make that decision. The presiding judge ordered two additional evaluations, both of which found Mink to be competent to decide to plead guilty to the charges and to waive the presentation of mitigating evidence.

• A three-judge panel found Mink guilty of all of the charges and most of the specifications. The State asked that its evidence be re-admitted as proof of aggravating circumstances, and Mink declined to offer any evidence in mitigation. The panel sentenced him to death.

• The Supreme Court of Ohio unanimously affirmed his conviction and sentence, holding, among other things, that the psychologists that evaluated Mink’s competence were qualified to do so and that reliable and credible evidence supported the conclusion that Mink was competent.

• The Ohio Supreme Court also found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating evidence beyond a reasonable doubt: “Mink’s course of conduct and the robbery-murder of his elderly parents are grave circumstances. Moreover, the mitigating evidence pales in comparison to the aggravating circumstances of these murders. Mink’s history and background and his lack of a significant criminal record, as well as other mitigation, are easily outweighed by these serious aggravating circumstances.”

• There is no manifest injustice. Mink killed his parents in an assault that is almost unimaginable in its sustained violence. As found by the trial court and the Supreme Court of Ohio, the slight mitigation that can be found in the record falls far short of offsetting the aggravating circumstances.

• Mink has not asked for clemency and he has declined to be interviewed for this hearing. There is no reason to offer mercy to Scott Mink. He does not seek it, nor do his crimes warrant it.

CONCLUSION:

The Parole Board reviewed the documents and deliberated extensively on the information provided. No mitigation was offered and no request for mercy was made by, or on behalf of, Scott Mink. The Parole Board found insufficient mitigating factors to outweigh the aggravating factors in this case. Therefore, the undersigned members find that the exercise of clemency is not warranted.

RECOMMENDATION:

The Ohio Parole Board, seven (7) members participating, by a vote of seven (7) to zero (0), recommends to the Honorable Bob Taft, Governor of the State of Ohio, that Executive Clemency be denied in the case of Scott A. Mink #A413511.

ProDeathPenalty.com

Scott Mink was sentenced to death at age 37 for killing his parents. His parents, William and Sheila Mink, were found dead Sept. 21 at their home in Union, 10 miles from Dayton, Ohio.

Mink was convicted of the beating deaths of his parents, 79-year old William Mink and 72-year old Sheila Mink, on September 19th, 2000, as they slept in their home in the Village of Union. Mink was angry at his parents because they would hide their car keys to prevent him from leaving the house to purchase drugs and alcohol.

When his parents were sleeping, Mink beat them with a claw hammer, until the hammer broke, next he beat them with cutting boards, until they broke, and then he repeatedly stabbed his parents with kitchen knives and strangled his mother with an electrical cord. Mink then stole his parents' credit cards and sold their belongings to purchase crack cocaine. Mink later confessed to police.

Killer's execution set for Tuesday

By James Hannah - Cincinnati Post

AP July 19, 2004

Dayton - When his parents hid the keys to his blue Isuzu Trooper to keep him from going out to buy drugs, Scott Mink snapped. The 36-year-old man got a claw hammer out of his father's toolbox on the porch and then walked into the bedroom of his sleeping parents.

William and Sheila Mink, 79 and 72, were bludgeoned with the hammer, stabbed with kitchen knives and beaten with cutting boards. Sheila Mink also was strangled, her neck broken with an electric cord. Scott Mink then bought drugs by selling his parents' possessions, including pictures off the walls of the upstairs duplex where the three lived in the community of Union, just northwest of Dayton. Four days later, Mink turned himself in to police and confessed to killing the couple.

Mink pleaded guilty to their murders and currently sits on death row, scheduled to be executed Tuesday for the September 2000 slayings. Last week, the Ohio Parole Board by a 7-0 vote recommended that Gov. Bob Taft deny clemency. Mink told a court-appointed psychologist: "I deserve it. ... I really don't want to die, but the severity of the crime and the circumstances fit the death penalty for me." Mink, now 40, declined requests for an interview. Calls seeking comment from his brother and three sisters were not returned.

Mink's execution -- three years from when he was convicted -- would be the fastest an Ohio inmate's death sentence was carried out since the state re-enacted the death penalty in 1981. The previous fastest occurred with Wilford Berry, who was executed in 1999 after being convicted in 1990. Mink also would be the first inmate executed since that time to plead guilty.

Dan Brandt, assistant Montgomery County prosecutor, said Mink deserves the death penalty. "The crimes themselves were especially heinous in nature due to the fact that they were the defendants' own parents and were brutally attacked while they lay in bed sleeping," Brandt said. "And there was the ferocious nature of the killings themselves."

The youngest of five children, Mink graduated from Colonel White High School in Dayton and took a few courses at Sinclair Community College. He never married and lived with his parents most of his life. Tired of their son's growing crack habit, the Minks had set a 10 p.m. curfew and sometimes hid the keys to his truck. Mink complained that his parents treated him like a child and that his father would only give him $10 or $20 at a time for spending money. Just before they died, the Minks told their son he would have to find a place of his own because they would be moving to a smaller apartment. They never got the chance.

After the attack on his parents, Mink found his keys. He took $7 and his father's ATM card. Mink withdrew $10 with the ATM card because there was only $12 in the account and bought a fake substance he thought was crack. The next day Mink sold his father's Ford Escort for $50 to $100 worth of crack. The day after that, he traded his parents' television for $30 in drugs. He later sold a lounge chair, a clock and pictures off the wall for money to buy drugs. William and Sheila Minks' bodies were found four days after they were slain when their daughters drove to the apartment to check on them and then called police.

Mink turned himself in to Tipp City police, telling them he had done something awful. He later confessed to killing his parents. On Oct. 4, 2000, Mink was indicted on charges of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications. The following April, he announced his intention to waive a jury trial, plead guilty and waive his right to present any evidence on his behalf.

Thomas Martin, a court-appointed psychologist who evaluated Mink, said Mink told him he did not fear death. "I have a firm belief that I still have a chance of getting into heaven; God can forgive," Mink said.

Man to die today for killing parents

Cleveland Plain Dealer

July 20, 2004

Associated Press - Lucasville - A man convicted of bludgeoning his parents to death sipped coffee and watched television Monday, a day before his scheduled execution. Scott Mink, 40, has dropped his court appeals and is scheduled to die by injection today. Mink was transferred Monday morning from Mansfield to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. He was relaxing and talking with prison staff, prison spokesman Larry Green said. "He's pleasant," Green said. "He seems comfortable, and he's in good spirits."

Mink pleaded guilty to killing his parents during a night of drinking and doing drugs on Sept. 19, 2000. He killed William and Sheila Mink as they slept, beating them with a hammer and stabbing them with kitchen knives. Mink, who lived with his parents, was enraged that they had hidden the keys to his truck to keep him from buying drugs. After the killings, Mink bought drugs by selling his par ents' possessions, including pictures off the walls of the upstairs duplex where the three lived in the community of Union, just northwest of Dayton. Four days later, Mink turned himself in to police and confessed to killing the couple.

Gov. Bob Taft on Monday declined to stop Mink's scheduled execution. Last week, the Ohio Parole Board recommended 7-0 against clemency. If the execution proceeds, it would be the quickest an Ohio inmate's death sentence was carried out since the state restored the death penalty in 1981. Mink also would be the first inmate executed who pleaded guilty, and the first put to death for killing family members.

On Monday, Mink requested for his special meal a T-bone steak; baked potato with sour cream and butter; steamed broccoli and cauliflower; a hamburger with cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard; french fries with extra salt and Pepsi.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Scott Mink, OH - July 20, 10 AM EST

The state of Ohio is scheduled to execute Scott Mink, a white man, July 20 for the 2000 murders of his parents, William and Sheila Mink, in Montgomery County. In 2001, Mr. Mink fired his attorneys and asked to be executed.

Mr. Mink was under the influence of alcohol and crack cocaine when he killed his parents and sold their television and car to a drug dealer in exchange for approximately $100 worth of crack cocaine. Two days later, Mr. Mink turned himself in and confessed. Mr. Mink waived his right to counsel, entered a guilty plea, presented no evidence, and asked a three-judge panel to sentence him to death.

He has a history of depression and suicide attempts, and has a history of repeated hospitalization. He had made several suicide attempts in the months preceding these murders, which were directly related to his addiction to crack cocaine. Mr. Mink is the second person scheduled for execution in Ohio in July. Both are “voluntary” executions.

About 110 men and women have been executed in the USA since 1977 after giving up their appeals at some stage in the process Although such executions are sometimes characterized as a form of state-assisted suicide, "prisoner-assisted homicide" might be a more accurate label. For if a death row inmate seeks to commit actual suicide, as more than 50 condemned prisoners have successfully done since 1977, the state will make every effort to prevent it.

The cases show that there may be many factors contributing to a prisoner's decision not to pursue appeals against his or her death sentence, including mental disorder, physical illness, remorse, bravado, religious belief, the severity of conditions of confinement including prolonged isolation and lack of physical contact visits, the bleak alternative of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, pessimism about appeal prospects, a quest for notoriety, or simply as a way for the prisoner to gain a semblance of control over a situation in which they are otherwise helpless (Amnesty International, 2003).

Please contact Gov. Bob Taft and urge him to stop the execution of Scott Mink.

Ohioans to Stop Executions

Scott Mink - execution date set for July 20, 2004

Scott Mink was arrested for and convicted of the Sept. 19, 2000, stabbing of his parents, William and Sheila Mink, 79 and 72. At the time of the murders, Mink was addicted to crack and an alcoholic. He was under the influence of both alcohol and cocaine, as well as other drugs, when the stabbings occurred. In April 2001, Mink announced in court that he wanted to be executed for killing his parents. His attorneys explained that he did not consider his decision to be suicide, and his religious beliefs instructed him that, if he committed suicide, he could not go to heaven and he could not be forgiven.

On June 20, 2001, a three-judge panel sentenced Mink to death. Acting as his own counsel, Scott Mink pleaded guilty and asked the panel in Montgomery County to sentence him to execution. The justices ruled unanimously that the 40-year-old was competent when he rejected attorney help, entered his plea and declined to present any evidence to argue for a sentence of life in prison instead.

The June 20th decision, written by Justice Francis E. Sweeney, the Supreme Court overruled 18 assignments of error advanced by court-appointed appellate counsel representing Mink and voted 7-0 to uphold the trial court's decision and sentence. The justices were also charged with improperly explaining the meaning of mitigation to Mink, thus leading him to abandon his appeals. On April 14, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld Mink's conviction.

How Did Scott Mink Spend His Last Day?

Dayton Daily News

July 20, 2004

LUCASVILLE - Scott Mink, the Miami Valley man convicted of bludgeoning his parents to death sipped coffee, smoked cigarettes and watched television Monday, a day before his scheduled execution. Mink, 40, has dropped his court appeals and is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday.

Mink was transferred Monday morning from a Mansfield prison to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. He spent the afternoon watching television and taking naps, prison spokesman Larry Green said. Mink had conversations with prison staff in the morning, and he met with his sister, Cheryl Williams, and his niece, Kristen Williams, in the afternoon.

"He seems to be relaxed," Green said. "He's been smoking Marlboros on and off all day."

Mink pleaded guilty to killing his parents in their Union home during a night of drinking and doing drugs on Sept. 19, 2000. He killed William and Sheila Mink as they slept, beating them with a hammer and stabbing them with kitchen knives.

Mink, who lived with his parents, was enraged that his parents had hidden the keys to his truck to keep him from buying drugs.

After the killings, Mink bought drugs by selling his parents' possessions, including pictures off the walls of the upstairs duplex. Four days later, Mink turned himself in to police and confessed to killing the couple.

Gov. Bob Taft declined Monday to stop Mink's scheduled execution. Last week, the Ohio Parole Board recommended 7-0 against clemency.

If the execution proceeds, it would be the quickest an Ohio inmate's death sentence was carried out since the state restored the death penalty in 1981.

On Monday, Mink had his special meal: a T-bone steak; baked potato with sour cream and butter; steamed broccoli and cauliflower; a hamburger with cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard; french fries with extra salt and Pepsi.

Green said Mink finished everything except the broccoli.

Expected witnesses to the execution will be Mink's siblings Cheryl Williams, Christine Martinson and William Mink; niece Kristen Williams, and Monty Stevens, a clergyman requested by the family, said prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Culp.

Mink Meets Death Serenely

By Tom Beyerlein - Dayton Daily News

July 20, 2004

LUCASVILLE | As his family looked on, Scott Mink of Union serenely met his death by lethal injection Tuesday morning for the September 2000 murders of his parents.

"I just thank you for giving me the chance to make a final statement," Mink told Warden James Haviland as he lay strapped to the execution table. "I have made peace with my family and God."

The execution of Mink, 40, was unusually lengthy because it took prison medical staff more than 20 minutes to install intravenous receptacles in Mink's veins. Tom Stickrath, assistant prisons director for Ohio, said Mink's veins were "brittle and they kept collapsing" as staff attempted to insert the shunts.

Mink winked and gave his family, seated behind a glass window, a thumbs-up sign from the execution table. Haviland announced the time of death as 10:27 a.m. His remains will be cremated and given to his family, a prison spokesman said.

"Our sorrow comes with a sense of peace in our hearts that our brother's decision was the right one for him, and we have made peace with him," Mink's eldest sister, Cheryl Williams, said in a prepared statement. "As a family, we will cherish our memories and move forward to create new ones for our children and grandchildren. Our faith, our love that we have for each other, is the legacy our parents left behind. We will remain steadfast in honoring them by carrying this legacy forward."

A crack-addicted alcoholic who lived with his parents, Mink became enraged when he learned that his parents had hidden his car keys. He killed William and Sheila Mink, 79 and 72, as they slept, beating them with a claw hammer until it broke, then stabbing them with kitchen knives. While most executions take almost two decades to be carried out, Mink's was the quickest since Ohio resumed executions in 1999. Mink greatly accelerated the process by pleading guilty and declining to appeal in court.

According to Larry Greene, spokesman for the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Mink had a "contact visit" with his family and his minister Monday afternoon and evening, ate most of the "special meal" he selected, and went to sleep at 12:05 a.m. Tuesday. He slept soundly until he was awakened at 6:05 a.m. by prison staff. He declined to shower or eat breakfast, instead splashing his face with water and having coffee and a cigarette. He had a non-contact visit with family members from 6:30 to 8 a.m., then met with his attorneys, his family pastor and the prison chaplain from 8 to 8:45. "The visits went very well," Greene said. "He enjoyed the visits with family members. Just general conversation."

In a roped-off parking lot outside the prison, about 25 death penalty opponents — some holding signs — gathered to protest the execution. "Somebody has to be here to say 'no' even if we can't stop it," said Kathy Soltis, a member of the Cleveland Coalition Against the Death Penalty, who has been at every execution since the death penalty was reinstated in Ohio. Another protester, Carl Hyde of Yellow Springs, said, "I'm pro-life, and pro-life means not killing people." Jeff Combs of Springfield said the execution sends a message that killing is OK. "If the government can do it, why can't I do it?" he said.

Mink's brother, William, and sisters Claudia Mink, Cheryl Williams and Christine Martinson witnessed the execution, along with niece Kristin Williams, attorney Dennis Adkins and family's pastor, the Rev. Monte Stevens of North Riverdale Lutheran Church. Unlike past executions, at the family's request there was no distinction between witnesses for the inmate and the victims, since Mink killed his parents.

The witnesses watched on a television monitor during the extended process of installing the shunts in Mink's arms in a holding cell adjacent to the execution chamber. Throughout the process, Mink closed his eyes, his legs crossed at the ankle. Stevens read Romans 8:38-39 from the Bible: "I am convinced that neither life, nor death ... will be able to separate us from the love of Christ Jesus." He was reading from a book entitled, If Grace Is True: Why God Will Save Every Person. The book, which was being held by Christine Martinson through most of the execution, was inscribed "Scott — Blessings."

"He is so calm," Claudia Mink said as she watched medical staff installing the shunts. "He's ready," Cheryl Williams said. "Yes, he is. Yes, he is," Claudia said.

At 10:17, the shunts finally installed, prison staff helped to ease Mink off the bed in the holding cell and led him into the execution chamber. Mink looked at the witnesses and mouthed, "Hi." He looked at his family repeatedly as he was strapped to the table, winking and giving a thumbs-up sign at one point. He mouthed what appeared to be "I'm all right." Cheryl and Kristen Williams, who sat side-by-side, at one point touched the glass window separating them from Mink. The women sobbed and family members held hands, locked arms and clutched each others' shoulders to comfort one another.

Ohio Executes Man For Killing Parents

MSNBC News

July 20, 2004

10:36 a.m. EDT July 20, 2004 - A man whose drug-fueled rage led him to kill his sleeping parents with a hammer and kitchen knives was put to death Tuesday morning after declining to pursue appeals that would have postponed his execution.

Scott Mink, 40 , died by lethal injection Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. He was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m. It was the quickest an Ohio inmate's death sentence was carried out since the state restored the death penalty in 1981. It also would come a week after the execution of another man who dropped his appeals, Stephen Vrabel of Youngstown.

On Tuesday morning, Mink smoked cigarettes and drank coffee but didn't eat. The prison served him waffles, cereal, milk, coffee and apple juice. "We took the breakfast to him but he said he wasn't hungry," prison spokesman Larry Green said. Green said Mink remained calm and cooperative. Mink spent Monday smoking cigarettes, switching channels on a television in his cell and taking short naps, said prison spokesman Larry Green. In the afternoon, he met with his sister, Cheryl Williams, and his niece, Kristen Williams.

Mink pleaded guilty to killing his parents during a night of drinking and doing drugs on Sept. 19, 2000. He beat William and Sheila Mink until the hammer broke and also struck them with cutting boards and stabbed them with kitchen knives. Scott Mink, who lived with his parents, was enraged that they had hidden the keys to his truck to keep him from buying drugs. After the killings, Mink bought crack cocaine by selling his parents' possessions, including pictures off the walls of the upstairs duplex where the three lived in the community of Union, just northwest of Dayton. Four days later, Mink turned himself in to police and confessed.

After pleading guilty in 2001, Mink asked a three-judge panel in Montgomery County to sentence him to death. "I do ask for the death penalty, to be handed a sentence of death," he told the panel just before the sentence. However, he later appealed, arguing that two psychologists who examined him at trial were not qualified to determine he was competent to reject help from lawyers and plead guilty.

In April, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld Mink's conviction and death sentence. The justices ruled unanimously that Mink was competent when he rejected attorney help, entered his plea and declined to present any evidence to argue instead for a lesser sentence of life in prison. Last week, defense attorney Gary Crim told the Ohio Parole Board that Mink wishes there to be no further actions to stop his execution. "I think that his life since he woke up after he sobered up and was arrested is full of remorse," Crim said. "That's his way of remorse, seeking execution."

Gov. Bob Taft declined Monday to stop Mink's scheduled execution. The parole board recommended 7-0 against clemency last week.

On Monday, Mink had for his special meal of a T-bone steak; baked potato with sour cream and butter; steamed broccoli and cauliflower; a hamburger with cheese, onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard; french fries with extra salt and Pepsi. Green said Mink finished everything but the broccoli.

Expected witnesses to the execution were Mink's siblings Cheryl Williams, Christine Martinson and William Mink; niece Kristen Williams, and Monty Stevens, a clergyman requested by the family, said prison spokeswoman JoEllen Culp.