Continuing Coverage From Ohio

Today's Canton Repository publishes the editorial, "Death penalty report is good starting point."

A committee appointed more than two years ago by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has made dozens of recommendations on how to change the state’s death penalty law. It was a contentious process, as anyone might have predicted. But the final report has done a good job of framing issues that state legislators and the public should weigh in on.

O’Connor created the 22-member committee after reviews by the Ohio State Bar Association and The Associated Press of death penalty cases revealed racial and other disparities from county to county.

And:

But the majority report released last week is an excellent starting point for a necessary statewide conversation about how Ohio and its 88 counties carry out their gravest responsibility.

"Ohio justice: Division over death penalty expected," is by AP Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins, via the Review.

Divisions were to be expected on a panel that spent more than two years studying capital punishment in the state, the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court said as the group wraps up its work.

The panel convened in 2011 by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor finalized its recommendations last week and now awaits a dissenting report from prosecutors on the committee who disagreed with some proposals.

"There was going to be some really divisive topics and going to be diametrically opposed positions," O'Connor told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I'm not surprised. And I think it's healthy."

And:

Many of the proposals would require lawmakers' support, while others could be approved as Supreme Court rules. O'Connor said she hopes lawmakers take a comprehensive approach to any recommendations they consider.

Earlier coverage from Ohio begins at the link.