An Ohio convicted murderer, Billy Slagle, was due for execution by lethal injection when he allegedly hanged himself in his prison cell, according to state corrections officials.
The inmate was found in his cell at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution just after 5 a.m. Sunday. According to CNN, he was pronounced dead about an hour later. Jo Ellen Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, said Slagle's execution was scheduled for Tuesday.
Slagle, 44, was placed on death row in 1988, after he was convicted of murder of his female neighbor, reportedly stabbing her to death in her Cleveland home.
According to Reuters, the victim, Mari Anne Pope, was watching her neighbor's two young children when Slagle broke in and stabbed her 17 times with a pair of scissors.
"Ohio's parole board voted 6-4 against his petition for clemency in June, and Gov. John Kasich denied his request on July 24," CNN reports.
Slagle was 18 at the time of the murder, and reportedly had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. His family also had a history of domestic abuse, which his lawyers argued caused Slagle to make poor decisions.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in July that there was "no doubt of Slagle's guilt," but jurors did the option to sentence Slagle to life without parole.
"If the case were brought today,"McGinty told CNN, "Prosecutors weren't likely to seek the death penalty."
Slagle was reportedly placed in solitary confinement. There is an ongoing investigation looking into the inmates death.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, Mike Ratliff, chief investigator for the Ross County Coroner's Office, told CNN.
"Since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, Ohio has executed 51 inmates, according to the Death Penalty Information Center," Reuters reports. "There are more than 140 prisoners on death row in the state."
