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Do IT this week: Layering
Published on Sunday, Sep 30, 2007
Many Ohioans may agree with Ted Strickland that they wouldn't support the death penalty unless they believed the punishment was administered fairly and effectively. The governor and others may take comfort in avoiding the national attention fixed on Illinois not too long ago, 13 inmates on death row exonerated and freed.
Illinois soon imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, the conclusion unavoidable: The state's system of capital punishment was broken. If not for the efforts of others, establishing the innocence of the prisoners, the state would have conducted the executions.
The truth is, Ohio has had its own troubles with the death penalty. Since 1973, five inmates on the state's death row have been exonerated.
Four months ago, medical workers struggled to find a vein in a prisoner's arm, delaying the scheduled execution by lethal injection for 90 minutes.
The episode deepened concerns about the practice of lethal injection that culminated this past week in the Supreme Court deciding to hear the appeal of two death-row inmates in Kentucky. The prisoners argue that the combination of drugs causes needless pain and suffering, resulting in a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
Then, there is the Ohio case of John Spirko, convicted of murder in 1982, receiving an unprecedented eighth reprieve in July. The governor wants time for further DNA analysis. As it is, the circumstantial case against Spirko has weakened so that a death sentence cannot be justified.
All of this provides context for the withering and comprehensive evaluation of capital punishment in the state delivered last week by the Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team, part of the American Bar Association's Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. The team included Phyllis Crocker, a law professor at Cleveland State University, and Margery Koosed, a law professor at the University of Akron, not to mention members with experience as prosecutors and as judges upholding death sentences.
The ABA is taking the measure of the death penalty in eight states. The Ohio team called for suspending the death penalty pending additional study, urging the governor to take the lead. That hasn't been the case in each state. Arizona and Florida emerged without such a recommendation.
In other words, the deck hasn't been stacked in the way prosecutors have contended, the report called a gift to those representing criminal defendants.
Actually, the evaluation put Ohioans front and center. After all, the state operates the death penalty in their name. What the panel emphasizes is the responsibility all of us bear for seeking to protect those who are accused yet innocent. One hundred ninety-nine prisoners sit on the state's death row. Is erring in the case of just one or two satisfactory enough?
Hardly.
The Ohio team rated the state's operation of the death penalty against 93 standards established by the ABA. The state gained a passing grade on four.
The sweep and depth of the assessment are most striking. Consider that eyewitness misidentification and false confessions are the leading causes of false convictions. The report recommends the state require all law enforcement agencies to videotape interrogations in homicide cases and establish consistent lineup procedures, tapping into best practices across the country.
In a similar vein, the panel proposes requiring the preservation of all biological evidence for as long as the defendant remains in prison.
Any state determined to fulfill the highest obligations of conducting the death penalty must have a clear portrait of how, when, where and why the punishment has been applied. Ohio does not. As a result, the state cannot explain adequately the finding that those who kill whites are 3.8 times more likely to receive a death sentence than those who kill blacks. It doesn't grasp fully the geographical disparity, the much greater chance of a death sentence in Hamilton County than in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties.
The report recommends the state collect the necessary information to address these inconsistencies and biases.
Many of the proposals call for ensuring that indigent defendants (or those with mental illness or mental retardation) have the resources required to mount an adequate defense. Notably, seven of the 26 prisoners executed in Ohio since 1999 have ''volunteered'' to waive further appeals. More, in the post-conviction phase, those on death row do not have sufficient access to public records. Information may be reported in a newspaper, and still it remains beyond their reach.
On Wednesday, opponents of the death penalty gathered at the Statehouse for a rally. They heard from Sam Millsap, a former county prosecutor in Texas and until recently an ardent supporter of the death penalty. What changed his mind? He erred in seeking and gaining a death sentence for Ruben Cantu. He relied on ''the uncorroborated testimony of a single eyewitness.''
Years later, the Houston Chronicle published a series of articles that ''went a long way to prove that one of my prosecutions . . . may have resulted in the execution of an innocent man.''
Millsap explained: ''I have assumed moral responsibility . . . because I now realize that my decision to seek the death penalty in that case was a mistake.'' Eliminate the death penalty, and you rightly avoid the possibility of error. Keep the punishment, and the moral responsibility of the governor, acting for all Ohioans, is to ensure its fair and effective administration.
Ohio isn't there yet.
Douglas is the Beacon Journal editorial page editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3514, or emailed at mdouglas@thebeaconjournal.com.
Many Ohioans may agree with Ted Strickland that they wouldn't support the death penalty unless they believed the punishment was administered fairly and effectively. The governor and others may take comfort in avoiding the national attention fixed on Illinois not too long ago, 13 inmates on death row exonerated and freed.
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