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LUCASVILLE, Ohio — In Ohio’s first lethal injection gone awry, condemned inmate Joseph Lewis Clark yesterday repeatedly shook his head and said, “It don’t work” as it became clear the drugs designed to kill him weren’t.

The execution team then closed the curtain separating witnesses from the execution chamber, but Clark’s moans and groans were clearly audible through the glass.

Ultimately, the 57-year great-grandfather and Toledo native was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m., nearly 90 minutes after the execution’s start. The process, which usually takes 10 minutes, was also extended by Clark’s statement, the longest ever before an execution.

Clark became the 21st man and the first from Lucas County to be executed since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999.

Karen Wolf of Bowling Green, Janice Flahiff of Toledo, and Ed Hoover of Perrysburg, from left, and others at the Lucas County Courthouse protest the pending execution of Joseph Clark.
( THE BLADE/LISA DUTTON )

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The execution proceeded despite the issuance of a stay by a federal court Monday in the execution of a Hamilton County man set for June 15. That inmate has a lawsuit pending that challenges the constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol, arguing that the choice of drugs could lead to cruel and unusual punishment. Clark is not a party to that suit.

Clark was executed at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, for the Jan. 13, 1984, slaying of David Manning, a 23-year-old husband and father who was shot at a gas station on Airport Highway in South Toledo.

He received a life sentence for killing another clerk, Donald Harris, 21, the night before at a store on Hill Avenue.

Clark was arrested after shooting a third man, Robert Roloff, during a holdup at a bank ATM in Toledo, three days after shooting Mr. Manning. Mr. Roloff survived.

“Justice has been served today for both David Manning and Donald Harris. Joseph Clark has finally received that which was his due,” Mary Ellen (Manning) Gordon, Mr. Manning’s widow, said after the execution.

Mrs. Gordon said she “did not shed a single tear for the execution of Joseph Clark,” whom she said was “a perfect candidate” to receive the death penalty. Mr. Manning’s brother, Michael, said that Clark tried to be a martyr. But he said Clark is “not a martyr. He’s just a murderer.”

Michael Manning and Brenda Kuhl, Mr. Harris’ sister, said Clark died peacefully.

“I think that it was kind of an easy way for him to go,” said Ms. Kuhl, who was in a waiting room with other relatives who did not see the execution.

Nevelle Stallworth, Clark’s nephew in Toledo, said he learned about what happened at the execution on the news.

“They know what they’re doing down there. They were gonna carry it through,” he said. “As long as he went peacefully.”

The execution team had struggled for 25 minutes to find usable veins in both of Clark’s arms, and made the decision to proceed with the execution with just one intravenous shunt in his left arm.

That vein apparently collapsed as the execution process began, according to Terry Collins, in his first week as director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Clark was a longtime intravenous drug user before his arrest 22 years ago.

After a long speech in which he thanked his family and friends, apologized to his victims’ families, and preached against the dangers of drugs, Clark quoted from the Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech in declaring himself: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, I am free at last.”

Then the problems began.

At first, Clark was extremely still, breathing shallowly, and appeared to have fallen asleep except for occasional movement of his feet.

But after a few minutes, he raised his head and, frustrated, shook it back and forth, repeatedly declaring, “It don’t work.”

The execution team pulled the curtain closed at 10:37 a.m. The curtain reopened at 11:12 a.m. and the process resumed. But even then, Clark raised his head about a dozen times and appeared to try to speak. Finally, he rested his head and clearly began to snore.

The snoring ceased and he appeared to stop breathing at 11:23 a.m. He was formally declared dead by the prison warden three minutes later.

Mr. Collins said he was on the phone with the governor’s and attorney general’s offices discussing contingencies if the second attempt failed.

Clark died from a trio of drugs that first put him to sleep, then stopped his breathing, and finally stopped his heart.

The irony of the use of drugs in his death was not lost on Clark.

In his final statement, he said, “I would like to tell them young brothers and sisters also all over the world, do not let drugs ruin your life, ruin your body, and destroy your mind. Today my life is being taken because of drugs. If you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said yesterday was a “very difficult day” for everyone in law enforcement and everyone in Ohio.

“There’s no joy in Lucasville on anyone’s side,” she said.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.

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