The Sunday Akron Beacon Journal carried the editorial, "A governor’s choice."
On Wednesday, federal Judge Gregory Frost gave Ohio permission to proceed with the death penalty. The judge long has been frustrated with the state’s “consistent inconsistency” in applying its rules for lethal injection. Now the state is positioned to end what has been a six-month moratorium on executions. Mark Wiles is schedule to die in 10 days.
Wiles has been on death row for 26 years, convicted for killing Mark Klima of Portage County, bright, promising, 15 years old and dreaming of becoming a doctor. Wiles once worked for the Klima family on its horse farm. In attempting to burglarize the home, he encountered the young man and stabbed him to death.
Two weeks ago, the Ohio parole board unanimously ruled against clemency. It rejected altering the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That leaves the final decision with the governor, who would do well to view the choice in a larger context, weighing the details of the case and the way the state should conduct capital punishment. There is a strong argument for Wiles living the rest of his life in prison.
And:
The deeper question for John Kasich, who has been thoughtful in these and similar matters, is: Whom should the state put to death?
"Ohio death penalty debate continues as executions start up again," is Marc Kovac's report for the Wooster Daily-Record.
Two Democratic state lawmakers continue to call for an end to the death penalty in Ohio, "raising fervent opposition" to Judge Frost's decision last week,
Reps. Nickie Antonio, from the Cleveland area, and Ted Celeste, from the Columbus area, are sponsors of legislation that would ban the death penalty, replacing it with life in prison without parole.
Last week, they pointed to Connecticut, the 17th state in the country that has ceased putting inmates to death.
"Moving forward with executions is a step backward for Ohio," Antonio said in a released statement. "Now is the time for Ohio to join policy leaders throughout the country and move to life without parole."
Celeste added, "Connecticut will soon be the fifth state in the past five years to abolish this barbaric, outdated form of punishment. Public opinion is clearly changing with regard to capital punishment, and I am hopeful that Ohio will soon be able to capitalize on this momentum as well."
"Sen. Brown stands firm against death penalty," is the Toledo Blade report by Ignazio Messina.
An Ohio state senator from Toledo said she would not be deterred from her desire to abolish the death penalty in the state, even after the sentence of death last week for convicted killer Anthony Belton and calls by some in the public for the penalty to be carried out in his case.
Edna Brown, a Democrat who recently launched a legislative effort to end capital punishment, said she does not want to get involved in individual cases, such as the murder of store clerk Matthew Dugan by Belton during a 2008 robbery.
"I did not follow the trial, but my concern is not with individual cases," Ms. Brown said. "My concern is with the process and possibility, as I have said previously, of an innocent person being executed. Whether someone is innocent or guilty is not where I stand. The death penalty should be eliminated."
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Ms. Brown is a sponsor of Senate Bill 270, which would strike references to capital punishment and the death penalty from state law. It is not expected to move within the Republican-controlled Senate.
Ms. Brown has said the most she hopes for now is additional hearings.
Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link.
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