Ohio News
Ohio gov. grants clemency to 78 convicts
AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland granted clemency to 78 people Monday, including a convicted murderer, after a painstaking review of three years of requests extending into his predecessor's term.
Sixty-eight former inmates, all of whom had already served their time, were granted pardons. Ten convicts had their sentences commuted, nine of whom are still behind bars and become eligible for parole or release because of the governor's decision.
Receiving commutation to time served was a Toledo gang member, Willie Knighten Jr., whose judge openly expressed second thoughts about Knighten's conviction. Before his death in June, Judge William Skow wrote that he had become convinced over the years that Knighten didn't commit the 1996 murder.
Knighten, 37, had written more than 100 letters to authorities insisting on his innocence. He has served 12 years of an 18-year sentence in the drive-by shooting death of Irving Turner, 29, and the wounding of another man. Knighten is to be released from prison Tuesday.
Of the remaining eight still incarcerated, six became parole-eligible, one will be turned over to federal authorities for deportation, and another will be released once he pays restitution and meets other conditions of the order, said prisons department spokeswoman Julie Walburn.
Karla Hall, staff attorney at the Ohio Innocence Project, said she was delighted to hear that Knighten's sentence was commuted.
"I'm thrilled for Willie and think he will absolutely become a great citizen. He has a great deal of family support behind him," she said. "I would be completely comfortable if he moved in as my next door neighbor."
Strickland, a Democrat and death penalty supporter, was slow to use his executive powers to pardon people's crimes and commute their prison sentences when he took office in January 2007. That year, he denied clemency three times to death row inmates, two of whom were executed. The third, Kenneth Biros, had his execution delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court, but again faces death next month.
A former prison psychologist, Strickland said he personally reviewed all 296 clemency applications between 2005 and 2007. He estimated that he, his chief legal counsel Kent Markus and staff members put in 1,000 hours reviewing the requests.
Sixty-three requests from 2005 and 2006 were left over from the former administration of Gov. Bob Taft. Another 233 requests were made in 2007. Strickland agreed with the recommendations of the Ohio Parole Board in 267 of the 296 cases, or 90 percent of the time.
"I can think of no quick and easy way to do this," the governor said. "I suppose if it's just a matter of getting a request and rubber-stamping whatever the parole board said and moving on from there, it can be done rather rapidly. But I think my responsibilities are deeper than that."
He now turns to 177 cases recommended for clemency in 2008 by the parole board, then to 226 requests made this year.
Ohio Public Defender Tim Young commended the governor. He said the forgiveness that comes with a pardon is often the only way people can have their records expunged.
Someone might have pleaded guilty to a charge of child endangering for transporting a child without a carseat, for example, thinking it would eventually be expunged. But new sentencing guidelines don't allow it, he said.
Young said he only wishes clemency requests were reviewed more regularly.
"Obviously, my preference would be to do this on a permanent, ongoing basis and not let such a pile build up," he said.
In January 2008, Strickland commuted the death sentence of convicted murderer John Spirko to life in prison. Spirko maintained he did not kill postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger in 1982, and the lack of physical evidence linking Spirko to the murder left the governor with "slim residual doubt."
Sixty-eight former inmates, all of whom had already served their time, were granted pardons. Ten convicts had their sentences commuted, nine of whom are still behind bars and become eligible for parole or release because of the governor's decision.
Receiving commutation to time served was a Toledo gang member, Willie Knighten Jr., whose judge openly expressed second thoughts about Knighten's conviction. Before his death in June, Judge William Skow wrote that he had become convinced over the years that Knighten didn't commit the 1996 murder.
Knighten, 37, had written more than 100 letters to authorities insisting on his innocence. He has served 12 years of an 18-year sentence in the drive-by shooting death of Irving Turner, 29, and the wounding of another man. Knighten is to be released from prison Tuesday.
Of the remaining eight still incarcerated, six became parole-eligible, one will be turned over to federal authorities for deportation, and another will be released once he pays restitution and meets other conditions of the order, said prisons department spokeswoman Julie Walburn.
Karla Hall, staff attorney at the Ohio Innocence Project, said she was delighted to hear that Knighten's sentence was commuted.
"I'm thrilled for Willie and think he will absolutely become a great citizen. He has a great deal of family support behind him," she said. "I would be completely comfortable if he moved in as my next door neighbor."
Strickland, a Democrat and death penalty supporter, was slow to use his executive powers to pardon people's crimes and commute their prison sentences when he took office in January 2007. That year, he denied clemency three times to death row inmates, two of whom were executed. The third, Kenneth Biros, had his execution delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court, but again faces death next month.
A former prison psychologist, Strickland said he personally reviewed all 296 clemency applications between 2005 and 2007. He estimated that he, his chief legal counsel Kent Markus and staff members put in 1,000 hours reviewing the requests.
Sixty-three requests from 2005 and 2006 were left over from the former administration of Gov. Bob Taft. Another 233 requests were made in 2007. Strickland agreed with the recommendations of the Ohio Parole Board in 267 of the 296 cases, or 90 percent of the time.
"I can think of no quick and easy way to do this," the governor said. "I suppose if it's just a matter of getting a request and rubber-stamping whatever the parole board said and moving on from there, it can be done rather rapidly. But I think my responsibilities are deeper than that."
He now turns to 177 cases recommended for clemency in 2008 by the parole board, then to 226 requests made this year.
Ohio Public Defender Tim Young commended the governor. He said the forgiveness that comes with a pardon is often the only way people can have their records expunged.
Someone might have pleaded guilty to a charge of child endangering for transporting a child without a carseat, for example, thinking it would eventually be expunged. But new sentencing guidelines don't allow it, he said.
Young said he only wishes clemency requests were reviewed more regularly.
"Obviously, my preference would be to do this on a permanent, ongoing basis and not let such a pile build up," he said.
In January 2008, Strickland commuted the death sentence of convicted murderer John Spirko to life in prison. Spirko maintained he did not kill postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger in 1982, and the lack of physical evidence linking Spirko to the murder left the governor with "slim residual doubt."
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