Alan Johnson reports, "Past prisons chief urges clemency for condemned killer," in today's Columbus Dispatch.
Former Ohio prisons director Terry Collins and a Cincinnati civil-rights attorney are jointly urging Gov. John Kasich to spare the life of condemned killer Clarence Carter.
Carter, 49, is scheduled to be executed April 12 unless Kasich or the courts intervene. The Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended against clemency for Carter.
A letter to Kasich jointly signed by Collins and attorney Alphonse Gerhardstein and obtained by The Dispatch said the death of inmate Johnny Allen resulted from a "jailhouse fight" with Carter in 1988 and does not warrant the death penalty.
"It is much more likely that this was an inmate fight that got tragically out of hand," Collins and Gerhardstein wrote. "Inmate-on-inmate violence in lockups is often pursued to establish oneself as fearsome and to deter others from threatening or attacking the inmate."
There is no evidence that Carter planned to kill Allen, they said. Although he had a hand-made prison knife, he did not use it. The prisoners fought for 25 minutes before guards intervened. The incident occurred Dec. 28, 1988, in the Hamilton County jail annex.
Collins is a veteran of three decades in the prison system who ran the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for 31/2 years. After his retirement in January 2010, he revealed that he opposes capital punishment because, he said, it cannot be fairly administered, is expensive and offers no second chances. Collins witnessed 33 executions as a prison official.
More on former prisons director Collins and earlier news from Ohio, at the links.
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