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The Toledo Blade
Spirko's Attorneys Ask For Judge To Examine Witness' Credibility Friday, September 23, 2005 BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU COLUMBUS - John Spirko has received approval from a federal appeals court to challenge the credibility of a postal inspector whose testimony helped to convict Spirko in the 1982 murder of a Van Wert County postmaster. Spirko's lawyers hope to convince Toledo-based U.S. District Judge James Carr to reconsider his Sept. 6 decision rejecting Spirko's motion to open a new avenue of appeals. If Judge Carr declines, the matter would become part of the appeal that already has been filed with the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is letting Spirko pursue the witness credibility issue. Barring court intervention and clemency from Gov. Bob Taft, Spirko faces execution on Nov. 15 for the kidnapping and stabbing of Betty Jane "Janie" Mottinger, postmaster in the village of Elgin. In an Aug. 31 letter to U.S. Chief Postal Inspector Leroy Heath, Gregory Duerr, an inspector in Cleveland, said 15 complaints were filed by employees against Postal Inspector Paul Hartman, who testified at Spirko's trial. While questioning whether an innocent man might be executed, Mr. Duerr did not purport to have first-hand knowledge of the Spirko case. The Ohio attorney general's office did not oppose the move to return the case to Judge Carr. It argued, however, that the letter is irrelevant to the Spirko case.
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