Statement re: new death penalty protocol

For immediate release

Friday, November 13, 2009
Contact: Kevin Werner, Executive Director
513-543-1585 (office), 614-560-0654 (cell)
otse.org@gmail.com

Death penalty changes ignore needs of victims' families

The state of Ohio has continued the back and forth about how to best execute inmates without addressing any of the issues that Ohioans really care about, like our safety, our wallets and pocket books, the needs of victims, and fairness and accuracy in our justice system.

Ohioans care about safety – yet criminologists and experts have resoundingly say the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to crime. Ohioans care about jobs and our economy – yet the death penalty, which is far more expensive than life imprisonment without parole, does nothing to help us in these dire economic times. Ohioans care about the needs of families of murder victims – yet the last few months have demonstrated that a sentence of death keeps victims' families tied up in a process that can drag on indefinitely, without providing any meaningful services for their healing. And Ohioans care about fairness and accuracy in our justice system -- yet 139 innocent people have been sentenced to death and later exonerated, including almost half a dozen from Ohio.

Instead of dealing with these real and substantive problems with Ohio's death penalty, our state has poured even more resources into a system that is broken beyond repair. The death penalty in Ohio is too costly – for taxpayers and victims’ families – to afford. The best improvement we can make to Ohio’s death penalty system is to abandon it and invest our energies in real ways that keep us safe and meet the needs of murder victims’ families, without the irreversible risk of mistake that the death penalty inevitably brings.
###

OTSE Announces 2009 Annual Meeting

Ohioans to Stop Executions will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at the Saint Martin de Porres Center at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus from 10 AM to 4 PM. For directions, please click here.

The keynote speaker will be Abraham J. Bonowitz, the Director of Affiliate Support for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP). Abe was the Field Manager with New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty for the final two years of the campaign in that state, which ended with abolition of the death penalty in December 2007. He was then hired into a new position at the NCADP, where his focus is on helping other state organizations build their capacity to help pass death penalty reform and repeal legislation. As a Columbus native and long time member of OTSE, we are happy to welcome him back to Ohio.

Also presenting will be Beth Wood, acting Executive Director of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) and Adrian Griffin, OTSE's Northern Ohio Organizer. Beth will present on organizing victims' family members. She comes with experience working on the death penalty for more than ten years, both in staff and volunteer capacities. Adrian will provide a presentation on outreach to members of the law enforcement community. Before joining OTSE, Adrian worked in many aspects of the criminal justice system, particularly on re-entry programs in Michigan.

The meeting comes at a time when national attention is focused on Ohio’s death penalty due to recent events including the attempted execution of Romell Broom in September 2009 and subsequent moratorium on executions. Please consider joining us on the 19th.

Lunch will be provided. Please R.S.V.P. no later than Friday, November 13th to otse.org@gmail.com or by phone to 614.560.0654.

New report on costs by Death Penalty Information Center

The Death Penalty Information Center has released its latest report, "Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis." The report combines an analysis of the costs of the death penalty with a newly released national poll of police chiefs who put capital punishment at the bottom of their law enforcement priorities.

To read the report's executive summary, click here.

To read the full report, click here.

To read DPIC's press release, click here.

Governor grants reprieves

Today Governor Strickland granted reprieves to Lawrence Reynolds and Daryl Durr. Strickland's decision came hours after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Lawrence Reynolds a stay of execution until November 30, 2009. Reynolds was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, October 8.

To read the Governor's statement regarding this reprieves, follow this link:
GOVERNOR'S STATEMENT

Shout from the rooftops

In 2006, United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia asserted that there has never been a single case in which an individual was wrongfully convicted and executed. If there was, he said, "the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

Thanks to the September 7 New Yorker article "Trial by Fire," we can shout with authority the name of Cameron Todd Willingham.

To learn more about the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's new campaign, click here.

Brunner calls for moratorium

Jennifer Brunner, Ohio's current Secretary of State and candidate for the US Senate seat to be vacated when Senator George Voinovich retires, has called for a moratorium on executions.

Brunner cited the botched execution attempt of Romell Broom and indicates many other reasons for her position on a moratorium.

The Huffington Post has the story.

Helen Prejean talks in Cincinnati

Sr. Helen Prejean spoke at Case Western University's law school and the City Club of Cleveland last week. To watch to her talk, click here.

She is the author of Dead Man Walking and advocate for abolition of the death penalty.
She will be speaking at the Cintas Center on Xavier Universitiy's campus tonight, September 21, 2009 at 7:30 PM. Free and open to the public.

Copies of Sr. Helen's books will be available to purchase. Also, the new book about Ohio's death penalty, No Winners Here Tonight, will also be available to purchase.

Contact Renee Berlon at otse.org@gmail.com or 513.543.1585 for more details.

Ohio governor overlooks glaring sentencing disparity

Earlier today, Ohio governor Ted Stickland made the decision to deny clemency to Jason Getsy. The governor's decision directly contradicts that which was made by the Ohio Parole Board on July 19, 2009.

Jason Getsy participated in a murder-for-hire scheme that killed Ann Serafino and left Charles Serafino, her son, critically injured. The mastermind of the plot received a life sentence but Getsy received a death sentence.

Governor Strickland stated that "the fact Mr. Santine was not sentenced to death is not, by itself, justification to commute Mr. Getsy's sentence." The Ohio Parole Board noted in its report recommending clemency that Getsy would not have been involved with the plot had it not been for Mr. Santine.

According to the blog page for sentencing law and policy expert Professor Douglas Berman of the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, a report has been published noting the Ohio attorney general Richard Corday pushed for denial because the sentencing disparity was not a legally sound reason for mercy.

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions said, "today our thoughts are with the Serafino and Getsy families. We are disheartened by the obvious unfairness and disparity that the governor up-held." He also noted, "OTSE appreciates the hard work of the Ohio Parole Board and the seriousness they gave to Jason Getsy's clemency application. We particularly appreciate that the Parole Board examined all aspects of this case and didn't just look for a technicality to hang their hats on. The exact purpose of clemency is to correct mistakes and to show mercy. I think the Parole Board should be commended for recognizing the need for mercy. We are gravely disappointed with Governor Strickland's decision."

To read related articles, follow these links:

AP reports clemency denied for Getsy
Ohio AG pushed for execution of Getsy

A conservative argument against the death penalty

Richard Viguerie, considered to be one of the founders of modern conservativism, supports an end to the death penalty. His article, published in last week's Sojourners magazine, covers all of the reasons why capital punishment conflicts with his conservative philosophy and religious beliefs.

When Governments Kill

A conservative argues for abolishing the death penalty.
by Richard A. Viguerie

On most public policy matters, Jim Wallis and I disagree. Both of us, however, do believe that the death penalty should be abolished—although we may not agree on how that should be done.

I’m a Catholic. Because of my Christian faith, and because I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I oppose the death penalty. I’m a conservative as well, and because my political philosophy recognizes that government is too often used by humans for the wrong ends, I find it quite logical to oppose capital punishment.

I have been criticized by some conservatives for my opposition to the death penalty. On the other hand, some conservatives have told me they question capital punishment or even oppose it, but believe that the conservative “position” is to support it. Fortunately for me, even if someone were to question my conservative bona fides (I’ve never been called not conservative enough, trust me), I wouldn’t care.

The fact is, I don’t understand why more conservatives don’t oppose the death penalty. It is, after all, a system set up under laws established by politicians (too many of whom lack principles); enforced by prosecutors (many of whom want to become politicians—perhaps a character flaw?—and who prefer wins over justice); and adjudicated by judges (too many of whom administer personal preference rather than the law).

To read the complete article follow this link

Opinion Editorial by Mark Godsey in Columbus Dispatch

Death Row case warrants another look to ensure that justice is done
Saturday, July 11, 2009


If Ohio does not take action in the case of Death Row inmate Kevin Keith, it risks doing the intolerable: putting a person to death for a crime he did not commit. Compelling new evidence in Keith's case raises grave doubts about the validity of his conviction.

There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that Keith was convicted and sentenced to death on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification -- one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in this country. Indeed, eyewitness misidentification has played a role in more than 75 percent of the DNA exonerations nationwide.

However, DNA is unavailable in the vast majority of cases, and it is therefore essential that protections are put in place to ensure that eyewitness identifications are reliable. Unfortunately, in Keith's case, that did not happen.

Read entire editorial

Outreach in communities

Ohioans to Stop Executions has been out in communities around Ohio talking to people about Ohio's death penalty.

Pictured is Renee Berlon, Southwest Ohio organizer, at the Northside 4th of July Parade on Saturday, 7/4.



"People came out for the parade despite the rainy weather," said Kevin Werner, executive director for OTSE. "This is a Cincinnati tradition that never disappoints," he said. "We're glad to have the opportunity to engage with people at such a great parade and festival."

Last year OTSE marched in the Northside parade with the 'no death penalty pig' which was a crowd favorite and Cincinnati novelty.

In addition to the Northside 4th of July Parade, OTSE has had a presence at the Cincinnati and Columbus Juneteenth Ohio Festivals, the Hessler Street Fair in Cleveland, the Pride Festival in Cleveland and the Yellow Springs Street Fair.

National attention on Ohio innocence claims

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), a national leader in research and information about the death penalty in the United States, is focusing attention on the innocence claims of Kevin Keith who has been on Ohio's death row since 1994.

For more, follow the link to KEVIN KEITH on DPIC.