The Columbus Dispatch, ONN & Alan Johnson are PRO-death penalty advocates.
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The Columbus Dispatch
2 Law Schools Unite In Support Of Killer Taft urged to at least grant another delay in the Spirko case Thursday, November 03, 2005
Alan Johnson
Spirko, 59, in a Death Row interview, repeated his claim of innocence in the Aug. 9, 1982, abduction and murder of Elgin postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger. "I don’t think there’s ever been any case before this governor or the people that had so much evidence, a mountain of evidence, that I’m innocent," Spirko said. "Still, I’m running against a wall here. . . . Where’s the justice?" Meanwhile, his attorneys filed an appeal with the 6 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as well as a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging that prosecutors are illegally withholding physical evidence that could contain DNA pointing to another suspect. At the same time, officials from Capital University Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at the Northwestern University School of Law teamed up to urge Taft to commute the death sentence or at least grant another reprieve to postpone the Nov. 15 execution. "This is the weakest capital case I have ever seen reach this stage in any state, including Texas, Florida and Alabama," Rob Warden, executive director of the Northwestern center, said during a panel discussion at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. The drama and rhetoric fired up yesterday in Ohio’s most controversial capital punishment case since Wilford Berry, known as "the Volunteer," was executed Feb. 19, 1999. Berry was the first person put to death in the state in nearly 36 years. While the courts are considering Spirko’s appeals, Taft might be his last, best hope. All county, state and federal courts have rejected appeals. The Republican governor, who supports capital punishment, is reviewing a 6-3 recommendation against clemency rendered twice by the Ohio Parole Board. Spirko was the first Death Row inmate to receive two parole board clemency hearings; the result was the same both times. The panel yesterday rejected Spirko’s request for a third hearing. Taft previously granted a two-month reprieve for Spirko, the first time he has done that in 18 cases. He commuted one death sentence, that of Jerome Campbell, of Cincinnati, in 2003. The latest issue raised by Spirko’s attorneys involves the tarp wrapped around Mottinger’s body when it was found in a farm field six weeks after her disappearance. Based on new allegations by John Willier, a house painter and former Van Wert County resident, the attorneys say the tarp might contain DNA from Mottinger’s real killers that would help clear Spirko. County prosecutors and Attorney General Jim Petro have declined to submit the tarp and other items for testing, but they also haven’t ruled it out. "We have told them that we’re reviewing that request," Petro spokeswoman Kim Norris said. "We want to see what’s available that was entered into evidence in the case and what condition it’s in. It may not prove anything or be relevant to the case." Spirko’s attorneys have known about the tarp for more than a decade but only last year asked that it be tested. The courts rejected the request. "We had such a strong case," attorney Alvin Dunn said yesterday, "we didn’t think that would be necessary." Norris said Petro disputes the claim that the state’s case against Spirko has collapsed after 23 years. "This is a case that has been reviewed by a number of courts. They all arrived at the same conclusion." In an interview at the Mansfield Correctional Institution conducted by The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer for the Statehouse news media, Spirko said the case against him is "rotten to the core." He said he initially offered evidence about Mottinger’s death in hopes of striking a deal with prosecutors for his girlfriend, who was facing unrelated charges. "I testified and I lied my ass off." Spirko, who served 12 years in prison for killing an elderly Kentucky woman, said he was prosecuted unfairly. "You can condemn me for my past and I can’t say nothing about that. . . . My God, I didn’t do this! You got guys out there killing folks and you are going to execute an innocent guy? Just to say justice is served?" ajohnson@dispatch.com
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