Court denies Christmas killer’s motion for death delay

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By Tom Beyerlein, Staff Writer Updated 5:52 PM Thursday, June 11, 2009

The pace of executions in Ohio has become so brisk that the Ohio Supreme Court plans to slow it down a tad.

The court ruled today, June 11, against the notorious Dayton “Christmas killer” Marvallous Keene, who asked to have his July 21 execution date moved back to give him more time to prepare a clemency petition.

But the court said that “in general” it will schedule dates to allow at least three weeks to pass between executions. Another death row inmate, John Fautenberry, is to die exactly one week before Keene, and the Ohio Public Defender’s office argued that its attorneys don’t have time to prepare multiple clemency petitions in such a short span.

Ohio put to death two inmates in 2008, but is scheduled to execute at least four this year. They are:

Daniel Wilson of Lorain County, executed June 3 for the 1991 aggravated murder of a female acquaintance. Wilson locked Carol Lutz in the trunk of her car, punctured the gas tank, stuffed a rag into the tank and set the car on fire.
Fautenberry is set to die July 14. He murdered five people in a 1990-91 interstate crime spree, including a man who picked him up while Fautenberry was hitchhiking on Interstate 275 near Cincinnati.
Keene is to die July 21 for his role in the worst murder spree in Dayton history, the “thrill killings” of Christmas 1992 that left six dead. Keene was convicted in five of the murders. His clemency hearing before the Ohio Parole Board is scheduled for Wednesday.
Jason Getsy is to die Aug. 18 for a 1995 murder-for-hire in Trumbull County. A business competitor of Charles Serafino hired Getsy to kill Serafino. Serafino survived Getsy’s attack on his Hubbard home, but his 66-year-old mother, Ann, died in the gunfire.

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