August 27 OHIO----impending execution State attorney misrepresented evidence to parole board In Clevelnad, a top attorney for the state misrepresented evidence before the Ohio Parole Board in an effort to deny clemency to a death row inmate, a newspaper reported Saturday. John Spirko, 59, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 20 for the 1982 murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, who was in charge of the post office in Elgin in northwest Ohio. In his presentation to the parole board Tuesday, Senior Deputy Ohio Attorney General Tim Prichard made false statements and mischaracterized evidence regarding what Spirko knew about the murder and his whereabouts on the day of the killing, The Plain Dealer reported. Prichard denied making misstatements and said it was Spirko's lawyers who should be confronted for "flat-out lies" to the board. Spirko insists he's innocent. The parole board will make a recommendation on whether Gov. Bob Taft should change Spirko's sentence to life in prison. A comparison of Prichard's statements to the parole board with the case record shows how he mischaracterized evidence, The Plain Dealer said. Mottinger was abducted and stabbed nearly 20 times, wrapped in a curtain and dumped in a field. Her body was found 3 weeks later. No physical evidence linked Spirko to Mottinger or to the town of Elgin. Investigators never located the murder weapon or the car used in the crime. But prosecutors have said Spirko convicted himself by telling investigators details of the slaying, including what clothes and jewelry Mottinger was wearing the day she was abducted. On Tuesday, Prichard told the parole board that a description of Mottinger's purse had to have come from Spirko because investigators didn't know what the missing purse looked like. But according to the case record, an investigator was given a very similar description of the purse by Mottinger's husband on the day his wife disappeared, 12 weeks before investigators discussed the purse with Spirko. Spirko and his lawyers have argued that Spirko got some of the details of the killing from extensive media reports. Other details, they say, were suggested or supplied - deliberately or inadvertently - by Spirko's interrogators, principally former Postal Inspector Paul Hartman. Prichard told the parole board that Spirko could not have picked up the detail of Mottinger's body being wrapped in a curtain from media accounts. "That's flat-out false," Prichard told the board. At least 3 times during his presentation, Prichard insisted that this detail had never been reported in a newspaper. But in the 10 days before Spirko came forward to investigators, facts about the curtain were reported at least 3 times in The (Toledo) Blade, The Plain Dealer said. Spirko's lawyers have said he contacted investigators in October 1982 and offered to trade information about the killing so police would go easy on his girlfriend who was facing charges in an unrelated case. Spirko previously served 12 years in prison for strangling a 73-year-old woman during a robbery in Covington, Ky. He got out 2 weeks before Mottinger disappeared. On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a request from Spirko's lawyers to delay his execution. Ohio has executed 16 men since it resumed carrying out death sentences in 1999 and plans 3 executions this fall. (source: Associated Press) ************************* State right to fire guards at MANCI The state did the right thing when it fired 2 prison guards at Mansfield Correctional Institution. The report released by the state on a suicide at MANCI paints a rather unflattering picture of the system. While we are not certain this represents an accurate reflection of the day-to-day activities on death row, we think changes are in order. A cop killer on Ohio's death row who committed suicide in May was likely dead almost 4 hours before his body was found, indicating a breakdown in the system for checking on inmates, the report concluded. The state said it fired James Clark and Jeffrey Whitaker and disciplined unit Capt. John Cantrell over the handling of the May 7 suicide of Martin Koliser. The union is contesting the firings, but it's obvious there were problems at MANCI that day. They are being made scapegoats for supervisors, the head of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the union that represents corrections officers, contends. Under prison procedures, a guard should have checked on Koliser twice an hour. Instead, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction believes a check was made about 1:30 a.m. and again about 5:20 p.m., according to the report. The report also found numerous other problems with the handling of the suicide, including inadequate documentation of guards' activities at night, broken first-aid kits and a failure to regularly carry out suicide drills. The report follows February's unsuccessful escape attempt from death row in which 2 inmates built a ladder from sheets and rolled-up newspapers and magazines. In that incident, prison officials blamed "gross deficiencies in supervision" and reprimanded several administrators, including the warden. Collectively, the two problems look bad coming so close together, prison system spokeswoman Andrea Dean admitted this week. Dean is correct in her assessment. Unfortunately, a few MANCI employees didn't do their jobs in these 2 instances. Whether the blame lies with the guards or with administrators is debatable. What isn't subject for debate is the system didn't work during those 2 incidents. The key is corrective measures must be taken to make MANCI safer for inmates and workers. Going forward, that must be everyone's priority. (source: Mansfield News Journal) ************************ Male stripper convicted of samurai sword slaying A 3-judge panel convicted a male stripper of killing a female impersonator with a samurai sword, rejecting his insanity plea. Lawyers for Michael Jennings, 34, had said they opted for the panel instead of a jury because they felt judges would better understand the defense that Jennings was insane when he killed Gary McMurtry at a Columbus home in May 2002. But the panel convicted Jennings, a male stripper who performed under the name Devon, of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and felonious assault for an attack on McMurtry's roommate, Brian Bass. The judges met Friday to determine if Jennings should receive the death penalty or a life prison sentence. Prosecutors say Jennings, dressed in a black ninja outfit with a hood, broke into McMurtry's home, stabbed McMurtry 13 times and slashed Bass with the sword when Bass confronted him. Jennings testified Thursday that he killed McMurtry but lied about it to police and his family for 2 years. "I did not want to admit to murder because that's not what I thought I did," Jennings said. His lawyers asked the panel not to convict him because he was diagnosed with psychosis and paranoia five years ago. Jennings testified that he believed McMurtry, who he had worked with for years, and another roommate, Scott Cole, were out to get him. "I do feel what I did was a move of self-defense," Jennings said. "I was sad and surprised that I actually did it. I didn't plan it out very well or I might have gotten away with it." Court records show Jennings was ruled incompetent to stand trial in December 2002 and was committed to a Columbus mental health facility, where he was injected with anti-psychotic medications under court order until he was ruled competent in February. (source: Associated Press) INDIANA----impending execution Death Row appeal filed with U.S. Supreme Court Lawyers for a Death Row inmate filed a new appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, arguing he is insane and should not be executed next week. The filing came a day after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Arthur Baird II was competent to be killed by chemical injection for murdering his parents in 1985. Baird's lawyers asked the justices on the nation's high court to issue a stay of execution. The state Supreme Court ruled 3-2 Thursday against a stay, saying evidence presented on Baird's behalf did not meet a test set out in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That ruling barred states from executing people who are insane, defined as being unaware of the punishment about to be received and the reason for that punishment. The Indiana Parole Board voted 3-1 Wednesday to recommend that Gov. Mitch Daniels deny clemency for Baird, 59, Darlington. Baird is scheduled to be executed Wednesday at the Indiana State Prison for killing his parents, Kathryn and Arthur Baird. He also was sentenced to 60 years in prison for killing his pregnant wife, Nadine, the day before his parents' slayings. Barring a court ruling to block his execution or clemency by Daniels, Baird would become the 5th person executed by the state this year. (source: Indianapolis Star) *********************** Lawyers for Condemned Inmate File New Federal Appeal Lawyers for a death-row inmate filed a new appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday. They argue that Darlington resident Arthur Baird II is insane and should not be executed next week. The filing in Michigan City came a day after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Baird was competent to be killed by chemical injection for killing his parents in 1985. Baird's lawyers also asked the justices on the nation's high court to issue a stay of execution. The state Supreme Court ruled 3-to-2 Thursday against a stay. The Indiana Parole Board voted 3-to-1 on Wednesday to recommend that Governor Mitch Daniels deny clemency for Baird. Baird is scheduled to be executed early Wednesday. (source: Associated Press) ************************* 200 years of Richmond history Nathaniel Bates of Hagerstown was the 1st and last person to pay the supreme penalty in Richmond. "It is what I deserved," he said shortly before being hung 119 years ago today. The 26-year-old Bates went into a vacant blacksmith's shop and sharpened the hoe and his pocketknife. He returned home to Hagerstown, where his wife was preparing to go out. They quarreled and hot words led to violence. She struck him with an axe handle. He wrestled it away and cut her throat with his pocketknife, then notified town Marshal Thomas Murray. In his confession he declared he had intended to take his own life after murdering his wife but lacked the nerve. His trial began on May 6 and lasted 2 1/2 days. Throughout the proceedings, Bates displayed unshaken nerve. The judge declared, "it be therefore adjudged that the defendant, on the 26th day of August, 1886, at 12 o'clock noon, be taken by the sheriff to the scaffold and hanged by the neck until he is dead." His last breakfast was steak and eggs, which he was hardly able to eat. At noon, he was led to the old Richmond jail yard. The death warrant was read. Prayers were said. His arms were tied behind. A hood was lowered over his head, and his last sight was the crowd. The trap was sprung, and the scaffolding of his life was yanked. The execution of Nathaniel Bates was the first and last to be carried out in Richmond. Two prior executions had taken place in the county, and the community, sharply divided about capital punishment, soon abolished hanging. In fact, there were few hangings in Indiana after that summer day here 119 years ago today. The axe handle involved in Bates' "crime of passion" is at the Wayne County Historical Museum. (source: Palladium-Item) MISSOURI----impending execution Judge denies condemned man's appeal in Missouri In Chicago, a federal judge on Friday denied an appeal by a condemned inmate scheduled to be executed next week who argued lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel punishment. U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw said Timothy Johnston, 44, could appeal to a higher court but denied his request for a temporary restraining order, granting summary judgment to the state of Missouri and Attorney General Jay Nixon, Shaw's clerk said. Lawyers for Johnston argued his executioners may not adequately sedate him, leaving him to suffer "a painful and protracted death" after drugs that stop his breathing and then his heart are injected. Johnston's suit claimed executioners were not properly trained, and used a painful intravenous drip applied to the leg. Several death row inmates across the United States have argued that lethal injection violates the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and the issue is winding its way through the courts. Johnston was convicted of the 1989 beating of his wife, Nancy Johnston, whom he beat with a rifle butt and stomped with steel-tipped boots. He is scheduled to die on Wednesday, and would become the 65th person executed in Missouri since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. (source: Reuters)
