CORRECTED: Ohio executes man who changed mind on appeals

Corrects spelling in final paragraph to pirogies from pirogues.

By Jim Leckrone

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A convicted murderer who stopped appealing his death sentence but then changed his mind and went to court five days ago was executed in Ohio on Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in.

Officials at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville said James Filiaggi, 41, was pronounced dead at 11:23 a.m. EDT 1523 GMT after an injection of lethal chemicals.

In his final words, Filiaggi said goodbye to his family and attacked capital punishment, saying "The state needs to find out this is not the answer, this is no deterrent to crime. Some are falsely convicted, railroaded. The state needs to wake up. Maybe they will follow the Europeans. God is the only one who knows."

Filiaggi was convicted of killing his ex-wife, Lisa, in January 1994. Police said he went to her home in Lorain, Ohio, chased her into a neighbor's house, found her hiding in a closet and shot her three times as she tried to flee again.

He had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, citing a bipolar disorder.

In April 2006, a three-judge federal appeals court panel upheld his conviction and death sentence and he gave up further appeals. But last Friday he asked for a stay so he could be included in litigation in Ohio which is challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment as proscribed by the U.S. Constitution.

His appeal was rejected by several lower courts but his execution was then put on hold pending a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court issued a one-sentence denial on Monday without comment, about 20 minutes after the execution was supposed to have taken place. He died about an hour later.