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Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: News

Kenneth Biros

A graduate from Youngstown State University was scheduled to be executed today, but a federal appeals court ruled Monday to block the execution.

Kenneth Biros, 48, graduated with a degree in geology from YSU. Biros will still be executed for the murder of Tami Engstrom, unless the Supreme Court stops the blockage. Biros was moved Monday to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio.

Biros was convicted of aggravated murder, felonious sexual penetration, attempted rape and aggravated robbery. A trial witness said the dismemberment of Engstrom's body was done with surgical precision, and Biros said it resulted from a blind rage. She was murdered on Feb. 7, 1991.

Ikram Khawaja, dean of the Arts and Sciences College, has many good memories of Biros' time at YSU.

"He was a hard worker and an above average student who was a productive member of the geology department. That's how I remember him. What transpired outside was nothing but a tragedy."

"It gives me a degree of sadness because a person with his potential ends up where he ends up. But no unusual traits transpired from him." Khawaja said.

Some students at YSU feel that the death penalty isn't an effective deterrent and it doesn't work. Others aren't quite sure how they feel.

Freshman Anwar Zuraiqi said, "The purpose is to stop other people from making the same mistake. He deserves to die. It should be effective but it isn't really working. They're already psycho, so they don't care."

Senior Megan Malone agrees that the death penalty doesn't work.

"I think it's used so the family can have closure. If it's one of your family members and you are against it, you may feel differently. I don't have a strong opinion but I've never lost someone close to me. If I did, I might feel differently," Malone said.

Victor Wan-Tatah, professor and director of Africana studies and philosophy and religious studies, said that the death penalty is done "in order to deal with an injustice, a way of evening the score."

Ray Beiersdorfer, professor of geological and environmental sciences, said he sent Governor Ted Strickland a postcard two weeks ago urging him not to kill Biros, along with two other death row inmates, Christopher Newton and James Filiaggi.

"I am opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances," Beiersdorfer said. "Besides the fact that the death penalty results in the execution of innocent people, it is racially biased, disproportionately affects the poor and is not a deterrent. The state of Ohio should not be in the business of taking life."

Continued...

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