Ohio DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM AND STUDY*

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DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM AND STUDY*

Columbus, OH – Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) today echoed an American Bar Association state assessment team recommendation that executions in the state be halted until lawmakers review capital punishment practices that fail to meet basic ABA standards for the death penalty. The ABA assessment team, comprised of a diverse panel of legal and academic experts from a variety of perspectives regarding capital punishment, issued its report today.
"The ABA's state assessment team found that Ohio's death penalty has serious flaws and carries a high risk of wrongful convictions, " said Sister Alice Gerdeman, president of OTSE. "They also showed that in Ohio death sentencing is subject to significant racial and geographic bias.
Ohio is also failing to provide adequate representation for those facing the death penalty, failing to provide juries with a clear understanding of their role in capital punishment trials, and failing to serve the needs of victims' family members. Having followed many cases, these findings are alarming but not surprising. It is imperative that the state conduct additional study. Furthermore we believe that the state should follow the recommendation of the ABA and halt executions while this study is performed, as continuing to carry out executions at such high risk would be wholly unacceptable. "

OTSE noted that concerns about lethal injections and the fair and
accurate application of the death penalty have halted executions in more than a dozen states around the nation. The group noted that Ohio's problems are very similar to the issues currently being debated in these other states and that this report offers lawmakers a chance to take a closer look at the state's capital punishment law.

Gerdeman noted, "We are grateful that the members of the assessment team have provided us with such a thorough review of Ohio's death penalty, and we share their concerns. We hope that Governor Strickland and our state's lawmakers will join us in heeding the ABA's call for a moratorium and further study of the death penalty."

OTSE urges everyone concerned about the death penalty to join their members outside the Statehouse at noon on Wednesday to call for an immediate halt to executions and a comprehensive study of the systemic problems inherent in the death penalty. For more information, visit www.otse.org or www.acluohio.org/dprally.

Alice Gerdeman, CDP, President of OTSE is available for comment on the report at 513-579-8547 or alice@ijpc-cincinna ti.org. For additional comment contact Carrie L. Davis, Staff Attorney ACLU Ohio at 216-472-2220,
cdavis@acluohio. org or Jim Tobin, Catholic Conference of Ohio at 614 224
7147, jtobin@ohiocathconf .org.

ABA Death Penalty Assessment can be viewed here;


www.abanet.org/moratorium/assessmentproject/ohio.html

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American Bar Association Sponsored Study Calls for Death Penalty Moratorium

According to a new study released by the American Bar Association, Ohio's capital punishment system is so flawed that it should be suspended while the state conducts a thorough review of its fairness and accuracy. The study, conducted by a 10-member panel of Ohio attorneys appointed by the ABA, found that the state's death penalty is prone to racial and geographic imbalances and that it meets only four of the 93 ABA recommendations to ensure a fair capital punishment system. "Regardless of one's views of the morality of the death penalty, it is beyond question that if Ohio is to have a death penalty it needs to be one that is fair, accurate and provides due process to all capital defendants and those on death row. Unfortunately, this is not the case," said Phyllis Crocker, a Cleveland State University law professor and member of the Ohio review team.

Among the panel's key recommendations were the following:


Ohio should ensure that it provides adequate opportunities for death row inmates to prove their innocence. This includes improved preservation of biological evidence while inmates are incarcerated, creation of nationally-certified crime laboratories, videotaping of all interrogations in potentially capital cases, and implementation of lineup procedures that protect against incorrect eyewitness identification. In addition, the report recommends that Ohio Governor Ted Strickland supplement the state's current clemency process by appointing a commission to conduct investigations, hold hearings, and test evidence, to review cases of factual innocence in capital cases.

Ohio should ensure that all capital defendants and death row inmates who are poor receive competent lawyers. The panel noted that Ohio does not have safeguards in place to ensure competent representation in all cases. It urged compliance with the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases. It also urged lawmakers to better compensate defense attorneys to ensure high quality representation, and to provide defense teams with sufficient funds for access to experts and investigators.

Ohio should exempt people with severe mental disabilities from the death penalty. The panel found that while Ohio does protect those with mental retardation from facing the death penalty, it does not extend this protection to those with other types of serious mental disorders.
Ohio should eliminate racial and geographic bias from its death penalty system. As part of its assessment, the ABA conducted a racial and geographic disparity study which looked at death sentences in Ohio between 1981 and 2000. The review found that those who kill white victims are 3.8 times more likely to receive a death sentence than those who kill black victims. It also found that the chances of receiving a death sentence in Hamilton County are 2.7 times higher than in the rest of the state, 3.7 times higher than in Cuyahoga County, and 6.2 times higher than in Franklin County.
Ohio should provide increased discovery in state post-conviction appeals. The panel noted that Ohio denies petitioners access to discovery procedures necessary to develop post-conviction claims. The ABA criticized an existing policy that allows reporters and other members of the public to use the public records law to obtain materials in support of post-conviction claims, but prohibits a petitioner from using this law to obtain these same documents.
A spokesperson for Gov. Strickland said that he is reviewing the report and its recommendations.
(Associated Press, September 25, 2007, and ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report, September 2007).

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2463&scid=64