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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2008 > September > 13
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Editorial: Ohio could have executed the wrong man
Recent news is a reminder of just how dangerous the death penalty is.
Law enforcement officers in Hocking County, near Chillicothe, believe they have solved a 1982 double murder of a young couple. They arrested two men after one confessed. But in 1984 the wrong man was convicted and sentenced to die for this crime.
Dale Johnston, a onetime Xenia resident, spent five years on Death Row before he was released after his conviction was reversed by the Ohio Supreme Court. How the wrong man got so close to being executed is instructive about the flaws in Ohio’s death penalty process.
In a Sept. 4 Dayton Daily News commentary, Dayton Daily News Staff Writer Mark Fisher recalled how he covered Mr. Johnston’s 1984 trial and was stunned by the outcome.
Suspicion fell on Mr. Johnston quickly after his stepdaughter Annette Cooper and her fiance Todd Schultz disappeared and turned up dead 10 days later. The rumor was that Mr. Johnston had had sexual contact with Ms. Cooper and was jealous of her relationship with Mr. Schultz. He was arrested and charged with their murders.
But from the trial’s start, Mr. Fisher wrote, it was apparent prosecutors did not have a strong case. Even so, there was intense community pressure for a guilty verdict.
In the end, those inside the courtroom who had watched the trial stared in shock when a three-judge panel convicted Mr. Johnston. Outside, a large crowd listening on a radio exploded with a hauntingly satisfied roar, briefly interrupting the proceedings.
After the conviction was overturned, prosecutors had the opportunity to charge Mr. Johnston again, but decided not to do so.
Ohio’s history with the death penalty dates to the 1800s. No state outside of the South has executed more people. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Ohio’s death penalty law unconstitutional, but executions started up again in 1999 under a new law with new procedures.
Across the nation, DNA evidence has forced Americans to rethink the death penalty, and support for it is sinking in public opinion polls as a growing number of Death Row defendants are freed by new scientific evidence.
Last year, the American Bar Association reviewed Ohio’s death penalty procedures and raised alarms, citing this as one of five states where processes were most seriously flawed. Since 1973, five Ohio Death Row inmates have been exonerated, and the danger remains strong that more mistakes could be made. But there has been no serious effort to institute better safeguards.
The bar association found that a mixture of simple and complicated steps could do much to protect the innocent. On the simple side, it called for rules requiring biological evidence to be kept as long as a defendant is jailed and mandating videotaped witness interviews for capital cases. Both of these changes could make cases easier to re-evaluate if doubts are raised or new scientific methods become the norm.
The nation is moving in the right direction on the death penalty. DNA evidence has caused both the public and many who work in the courts and in law enforcement to reconsider the death penalty itself.
On one point there is unanimous sentiment: Innocent people should not die. Ohio must take steps to ensure tragic mistakes don’t ever happen.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Scott Elliott
Death penalty defense: Too fat to die?
Richard Wade Cooey
Maybe you’ve heard about the case of an Ohio Death Row inmate who’s lawyer claims he his too fat to die? It grabbed a few headlines around the country.
If you’re interested in the story behind the story, check out Richard Wade Cooey’s actual legal argument in an op-ed column by his lawyer from the Cincinnati Enquirer. He writes that Cooey’s various weight-related medical conditions increase the likelihood that he will suffer pain during the execution.
The parole board rejected that idea. His execution is scheduled for next month. Cooey was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of two college students.
Today’s DDN editorial looks at a different death penalty case in which the wrong man might have been executed after spending five years on death row. It’s the latest example of the growing national concern that has many asking if the death penalty should be reconsidered.
Tell us what you think in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Law Enforcement and Public Safety
