Herman Ashworth

Who was Herman Ashworth?

Herman Dale Ashworth was a murderer executed by the U.S. state of Ohio. He admitted to the aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the beating death of Daniel L. Baker on 10 September 1996. He was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility after spending 8 years, three months, and 11 days on death row.

Ashworth met Baker for the first time while drinking at the Wagon Wheel, a bar in Newark, Ohio. They went to another bar, and while returning to the Wagon Wheel at around 9 p.m., Ashworth took Baker into an alley where he beat him with his fists, feet and a 6-foot board. Ashworth would later say that Baker made unwanted sexual advances to him. Ashworth took $40 and three credit cards from Baker's wallet and went back to the Wagon Wheel. Later he took his then-girlfriend, Tanna Brett, to the alley and found Baker still alive. They went to another bar but Ashworth left, saying he would make sure Baker could not identify him. Brett returned to the alley and heard a metallic sound and found Baker's body near a metal loading dock door.