Post by thinkinkmesa on Apr 6, 2010 21:52:48 GMT -5
Clinton Co. man who stabbed Bible school teacher has death sentence thrown out
A Clinton County man convicted of stabbing to death an 88-year-old Bible school teacher should not be executed because his lawyer botched his case, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati could get James Goff off Ohio's death row for the first time since his conviction in 1995.
A panel of three 6th Circuit judges concluded that the judge and defense lawyer in the murder trial made mistakes, and that the lawyer who handled Goff's appeal failed to mention those mistakes in later court proceedings.
"Failure on the part of Goff's appellate counsel to raise such an obviously winning claim clearly falls below an objective standard of reasonableness," wrote Judge Karen Nelson Moore, who was joined in the decision by judges Ronald Lee Gilman and Gilbert S. Merritt.
The judges said that neither Goff's trial lawyer nor the judge informed him that he could make a statement to the jury during the penalty phase of the trial, during which jurors must decide whether to recommend a death sentence or a lesser sentence.
They said the right for a convicted killer to make such a statement is well known and the oversight was serious enough to overturn Goff's death sentence. Goff was convicted of stabbing to death Myrtle Rutledge while robbing her home in 1994.
Merritt said he also would have overturned the death sentence based on the instructions the judge gave the jurors before they began deliberations. He said the judge failed to make clear that a single juror's vote for life in prison instead of for death would be enough to stop a death sentence recommendation.
Merritt, appointed to the court by President Jimmy Carter, said he believes Ohio law is unclear on this issue and, therefore, many people may have been sent to death row based on the same flawed jury instructions.
"No one should be executed as a result of such instructions," Merritt wrote in a separate opinion.
Moore and Gilman, both appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton, did not join Merritt in his opinion.
Lawyers with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which handled the appeal for the state, said they are considering whether to ask the entire 6th Circuit to overturn the panel's decision or whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. A spokesman said Ohio's jury instructions are proper.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, whose office has sent more people to death row than any other in the state, said he doubted Merritt's concerns about jury instructions would create problems for other death penalty cases. He said jurors are told that a single vote can block an execution.
"Ohio law is so restrictive right now, every break goes to the defendant," Deters said. "These judges need to run for governor. They are granting commutations from the bench."
More;
news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100406/NEWS010702/4070356/
A Clinton County man convicted of stabbing to death an 88-year-old Bible school teacher should not be executed because his lawyer botched his case, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati could get James Goff off Ohio's death row for the first time since his conviction in 1995.
A panel of three 6th Circuit judges concluded that the judge and defense lawyer in the murder trial made mistakes, and that the lawyer who handled Goff's appeal failed to mention those mistakes in later court proceedings.
"Failure on the part of Goff's appellate counsel to raise such an obviously winning claim clearly falls below an objective standard of reasonableness," wrote Judge Karen Nelson Moore, who was joined in the decision by judges Ronald Lee Gilman and Gilbert S. Merritt.
The judges said that neither Goff's trial lawyer nor the judge informed him that he could make a statement to the jury during the penalty phase of the trial, during which jurors must decide whether to recommend a death sentence or a lesser sentence.
They said the right for a convicted killer to make such a statement is well known and the oversight was serious enough to overturn Goff's death sentence. Goff was convicted of stabbing to death Myrtle Rutledge while robbing her home in 1994.
Merritt said he also would have overturned the death sentence based on the instructions the judge gave the jurors before they began deliberations. He said the judge failed to make clear that a single juror's vote for life in prison instead of for death would be enough to stop a death sentence recommendation.
Merritt, appointed to the court by President Jimmy Carter, said he believes Ohio law is unclear on this issue and, therefore, many people may have been sent to death row based on the same flawed jury instructions.
"No one should be executed as a result of such instructions," Merritt wrote in a separate opinion.
Moore and Gilman, both appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton, did not join Merritt in his opinion.
Lawyers with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which handled the appeal for the state, said they are considering whether to ask the entire 6th Circuit to overturn the panel's decision or whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. A spokesman said Ohio's jury instructions are proper.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, whose office has sent more people to death row than any other in the state, said he doubted Merritt's concerns about jury instructions would create problems for other death penalty cases. He said jurors are told that a single vote can block an execution.
"Ohio law is so restrictive right now, every break goes to the defendant," Deters said. "These judges need to run for governor. They are granting commutations from the bench."
More;
news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100406/NEWS010702/4070356/