Ohio inmate calm, emotional as execution nears

[September 20, 2012]  CINCINNATI (AP) -- Prison officials say an Ohio inmate set to be executed Thursday has been calm but emotional as he spent some of his last hours meeting with family and praying.

Forty-three-year-old Donald Palmer spent the 24 hours leading up to his execution visiting with his grown daughter and son, his ex-wife and spiritual advisers at the state prison in Lucasville in southern Ohio.

Palmer also has been reading the Bible and writing letters and journal entries.

Palmer's last meal was a chipped beef and Velveeta cheese sandwich, ranch-flavored Doritos, peanut M&Ms, hazelnut ice cream and cheesecake.

Palmer was convicted of aggravated murder in the May 1989 shooting deaths of Charles Sponhaltz and Steven Vargo along a Belmont County road in eastern Ohio. The married fathers were shot in the head.

[Associated Press; By AMANDA LEE MYERS]

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