Parents Want Governor To Spare Life Of Daughter's Killer

[Algorem]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/10722587/detail.html
POSTED: 10:11 am EST January 11, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio --...

Murray's parents plan to ask Strickland, a Democrat who took office Monday, to grant McKnight clemency. The governor would need an Ohio Parole Board recommendation -- which he could ask for -- to act on the request.

Thomas and Cynthia Murray, of Cold Spring, N.Y., said their daughter's opposition to capital punishment outweighed any thoughts of wanting revenge against McKnight.

"It's about Emily. It's about the people of Ohio. When we execute someone, in some subtle ways, we may harm ourselves," Thomas Murray told The Columbus Dispatch for a story Thursday...

Strickland, a former prison psychologist, supports the death penalty. But he has questioned the fairness of capital punishment because of cases around the country in which new scientific evidence exonerates inmates after long stays on death row...




Is lethal injection barbaric? Ohio revisits the ethics of execution

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=27027

2007-01-11
By Daniel Sturm
Athens NEWS Contributor


When Jonathan Groner put his dog to sleep, he knew the procedure would be quick and painless. He said he trusted the veterinarian because she euthanizes dogs daily, and he thought the procedure would be humane since dogs lack a perception of time. On the other hand, he said, there is no humane way to kill a human.

Since the botched execution of Joseph Clark in May 2006, critics of Ohio's lethal-injection protocol have been pointing toward the risk of torture in the execution chamber if a licensed anesthesiologist is not present.

"A humane execution is the ultimate paradox," said Groner at his Columbus Children's Hospital office. The doctor of pediatric surgery and associate professor at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health said he was troubled to see how the rise in Ohio executions was accompanied by the belief that the process of lethal injection was not controversial. He drew a parallel between the medical community's involvement in lethal injection procedures in the U.S. and concentration camp euthanasia programs in Nazi Germany (see sidebar interview)...

Editor's note: Daniel Sturm is a German journalist who covers under-reported social and political topics in Europe and in the United States. Some of his work can be seen on the Internet at http://www.sturmstories.com. He recently moved to the Athens area.


Groups set death-penalty rally

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/362834025648941.php

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

YOUNGSTOWN — A rally with the theme "Rethinking Ohio's Death Penalty" is planned for 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the gates of Ohio State Penitentiary, 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Road.

The event, a collaborative effort of the Cleveland Lucasville Five Defense Committee, Youngstown Prison Forum and Loved Ones Of Prisoners, is being held in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

OSP is the state's supermax prison where most of Ohio's death row prisoners are held. Upcoming executions are former Trumbull County resident Kenneth Biros, Jan. 23; James Filiaggi, Feb. 13; and Christopher Newton, Feb. 27. However, Gov. Ted Strickland, who took office Monday, said he would not have enough time to review the Biros case, so it's likely the first execution of his administration would be postponed. Strickland said former Gov. Bob Taft reviewed such cases for months.

Ohio has executed 24 prisoners since it reinstated the death penalty after introducing lethal injections in 1999. More than half of these executions have taken place since 2004, making Ohio the state with the second-highest execution rate, after Texas.


Parole Board recommends no clemency for killer

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16428963.htm

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A unanimous Ohio Parole Board on Wednesday recommended that Gov. Ted Strickland deny clemency to a condemned killer in Strickland's first death-penalty case since taking office.

However, Strickland has said he needs more time to review the case of Kenneth Biros, whose execution is scheduled for Jan. 23. Strickland became governor on Monday.

Strickland is studying the board's report but hasn't made a final decision on seeking a delay, the governor's spokesman, Keith Dailey, said Wednesday.

The board said Biros' trial was fair and his sentence has been upheld through 16 years of appeals. The board also said the "brutality and violence exhibited in the offense" outweigh problems Biros said he faced during his childhood...


Strickland gets first death penalty case from parole board

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=239067

By Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

In the first death-penalty case to reach him, Gov. Ted Strickland today received a recommendation opposing clemency for a Trumbull County killer...


Strickland, a Democrat who supports capital punishment, has indicated he will likely order a delay in Biros' case and perhaps the scheduled execution of James Filiaggi on Feb. 13 to give him more time to review the cases.

Under Ohio law, once the governor has a parole board recommendation, he has unlimited power to grant clemencies, reprieves or allow the execution to proceed.

[wakeme2008]

1. This should be a no brainer for Gov Strickland once

the parents ask that the DP not to be done, it should be life w/o parole.

[Lance_Boyle]

3. I oppose the death penalty, but

am I the only one here who thinks that victims' families should not have any say whatsoever in the punishment meted out for a crime? You kill a person, you should face a prescribed penalty. That penalty should not vary in the slightest based on the wishes of your victim's next of kin. Allowing emotional appeals from victims' families in this context is, to me, a disgusting perversion of justice. Sentencing should be a judicial/legal matter, not a subjective/emotional one. The case, after all, was STATE v accused, not "victim's family" v accused. The victim's family should not be allowed to speak for the State any more than you or I should.

[brentspeak]

5. Agreed. The State acts on behalf of the victim, not on behalf of anyone else or even the family

[mvd]

9. I also agree

And I'm 100% opposed to the death penalty in the US, and 99% opposed overall. I say 99% because there's a small chance that a country won't be able to protect its people adequately.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. I agree with you.

While this family is asking for mercy -- you've got to admire them on a certain level for that! -- emotional appeals generally tend to turn the justice system into the revenge system (screw the folks who call it closure).

And while the many families and loved ones who do seek revenge are completely understandable, it's no way to run the courts.

[WindRavenX]

2. don't families of the victim have the power to grant clemency?

I thought I read someone on DU say that they were on this list that was for individuals who did not want the DP in the case they were murdered...

Either way, kudos to the family of the victim and I hope they find closure.

[Lance_Boyle]

4. I should sure as hell hope not!

Clemency can be granted by a person empowered to act on behalf of the State - usually the Governor. Victims' families are not empowered to act on behalf of the State, nor should they be.

[WindRavenX]

8. I meant that they're requests are usually honored by the state

Not that they have the *actual* power to grant legal clemency.

[fbahrami]

7. wow

I have such respect for those folks. I cannot imagine having this much compassion if, god-forbid, my son was murdered. I get such a lift just thinking about their action.