William Zuern was convicted of killing a Hamilton County sheriff’s department jail officer while incarcerated on a previous conviction. He was charged with aggravated murder after stabbing officer Phillip Pence in the chest with a piece of a bucket handle that he had sharpened in his cell. Zuern stabbed the officer on June 9, 1984.

The officer had entered Zuern’s cell on a tip from another prisoner that Zuern had homemade weapons hidden in his cell which he was threatening to use against a prisoner. Officer Pence entered the cell to conduct a “shakedown” for weapons, and it was at this time that the stabbing occurred.

There has been controversy over whether or not Zuern’s charge should have actually been considered a capital crime. According to Zuern, his attorney and several witnesses, the threats that he made were in fact against another prisoner, and that when Zuern stabbed Officer Pence, he actually thought he was going after the prisoner that he allegedly sought to attack. If this were true, it could be potential grounds to call the capital punishment in to question, as it would show that Zuern did not intend to kill officer Pence, and thus did not actually commit first degree murder, the crime for which he was charged. A memo written to this effect that was not submitted during the original hearing actually caused Judge Walter Rice to order a retrial for Zuern. This memo written by another inmate days after the stabbing, clearly stated that Zuern threatened inmates. Ohio’s state law says that to be convicted of murder, one need not threaten an individual, but any member of a group. The defense’s contention was that Zuern threatened inmates, not officers, and therefore should be allowed a lesser charge. However, this was overruled by the federal appeals court.