Mark Wiles of Portage County will be put to death, as scheduled, April 18th -- if one federal judge's decision holds.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost thinks Ohio is serious about following legal lethal injection policies and is allowing Wiles' execution to go ahead. He was convicted of stabbing a 15-year old Mark Klima to death during a farmhouse burglary in 1985.

The knife in the boy's back had been used to cut a birthday cake just the day before.

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(AP) A federal judge is allowing Ohio's next scheduled execution to proceed, concluding that the state is serious about following its lethal injection procedures. The decision Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost paves the way for the April 18 execution of Mark Wiles for stabbing a 15-year-old boy to death during a farmhouse burglary in 1985.

Frost had previously criticized the state for deviations from its policy, saying even minor changes called into question the state's ability to carry out executions correctly.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

A death row inmate from Portage County is up for a parole board hearing next week.

Attorneys for Mark Wiles will make their request for clemency next Thursday, three days after Wiles turns 49.

He's been on death row for 26 years - that's 11 more than his victim was ever alive. Wiles was convicted of stabbing to death 15 year old Mark Klima of Rootstown in 1985.

Wiles is scheduled to die by lethal injection next month, but that's unlikely to happen since executions have been halted while a special panel looks into Ohio's execution procedures and protocol.