Today's New York Times reports, "Unusual Alliance Protests Execution," written by Bob Driehaus. Here's an extended excerpt:
An unlikely array of Republicans and Democrats, attorneys general and federal and state judges and prosecutors has lined up to fight the execution of a death row inmate many believe to be innocent.
Dozens of former officials have joined death penalty opponents to appeal to Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat, to spare the life of the inmate, Kevin Keith. They say emerging evidence of investigative errors, inadequate defense and the existence of another suspect merit a pardon or at least a new trial.
The diverse group, including some who generally support the death penalty, is scheduled to appear at a news conference at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday, ahead of a clemency hearing on Wednesday.
Mr. Keith, 46, was convicted of murdering two women and a 4-year-old girl and wounding a man and two children in February 1994. Prosecutors said he sprayed gunfire through an apartment in Bucyrus, Ohio, to retaliate against a relative of some of the victims who cooperated with a drug raid.
Mr. Keith is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Sept. 15. But many believe he did not commit the crime.
“I am gravely concerned that the State of Ohio may be on the verge of executing an innocent person,” Jim Petro, a former Ohio attorney general and a Republican who described himself as a death penalty supporter, wrote in a letter to Mr. Strickland.
Herbert R. Brown, a member of the Ohio Public Defender Commission and a former Ohio Supreme Court justice, wrote to the governor, “There is a mass of exculpatory evidence, suppressed evidence, faulty eyewitness identification and forensic reports that support legitimate claims of innocence.”
Those officials were joined by 31 former judges and prosecutors from around the country; the Innocence Network and its 61 affiliates, including the Ohio Innocence Project; and 100 religious leaders and organizations — a level of support that very few cases reach, said Richard C. Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
Defense lawyers say another man told a confidential informant in a separate drug investigation that he had been hired for $15,000 to “cripple” the informant whose relatives were victims of the Bucyrus shooting. That other man was also identified as the Bucyrus gunman by his co-defendant in the drug case, said Rachel Troutman, Mr. Keith’s lawyer.
Lawyers say that a critical piece of evidence in Mr. Keith’s case was fabricated. A police officer testified that a nurse who treated the lone adult survivor had called the police station and said the survivor identified his attacker as “Kevin.” But the original defense team did not call the nurse to testify, and a 2007 investigation found no nurse with the name given by the officer. A nurse with the same first name but a different surname who treated the victim stated in a 2007 affidavit that she did not hear or relay the name of the gunman.
"Canton man on death row seeks clemency," is the title of the article in the Canton Repository. It's written by Charita Goshay.
Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office has filed a petition of clemency on Keith’s behalf. A hearing is set for Wednesday in Columbus, with the board expected to hand its recommendation to Gov. Ted Strickland on Aug. 18.
The governor could opt to alter Keith’s sentence, pardon him or allow the execution slated for Sept. 15 to move forward.
“We are requesting a full pardon,” Troutman said. “We’ve taken the entire case apart, and identified the actual killer.”
Strickland recently told the Columbus Dispatch that Keith’s case contains some “troubling” circumstances. “We are looking at that case very seriously,” he said.
More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition in support of Keith at www.kevinkeith.org.
“I’m optimistic that there’s no way Kevin Keith is going to be executed,” Troutman said. “I think the governor’s going to take time to do this painstakingly. At the end of the day, he’ll see there’s nothing left against Kevin Keith, and if he isn’t pardoned, a killer will continue to walk the streets of Bucyrus.”
Earlier coverage begins with this post from yesterday.
In an unrelated case, Ohio carried out its 7th execution of the year earlier this morning. Jeannie Nuss files, "Ohio executes man who killed 2 at warehouse in '91," for AP.
And:Prison officials say 38-year-old Roderick Davie died by lethal injection at 10:31 a.m. Tuesday.
Davie is the seventh person to be put to death in Ohio this year, tying a record that the state set in 2004. The execution is the 40th in the state since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.
Davie's was the 34 execution in the nation this year; the 1,222nd since 1977. Texas has carried out 15 executions in 2010; 462 since 1982. According to TDCJ, Texas' next scheduled execution in August 17.
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