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The Lima News
Spirko’s Execution Delayed Friday, September 9, 2005
By GREG SOWINSKI COLUMBUS — With just days to go before he was to be executed, condemned inmate John Spirko was given two more months to live Thursday to let the parole board further consider his conviction in the 1982 killing of the Elgin postmistress. Ohio Gov. Bob Taft issued a reprieve pushing back Spirko’s execution date to Nov. 15 at the request of the Ohio Parole Board. The chair of the board requested the reprieve earlier in the day so the board can further review Spirko’s request for clemency. Taft issued a statement later in the day saying he supported the parole board’s decision to accept the proposal by Spirko’s attorneys and the Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to rehear the case and reconsider clemency. Spirko’s attorney, Alvin Dunn, said he was pleased by the decision and is looking forward to a new clemency hearing where his team will have more time to present its case. “We will have the opportunity to set the record straight that we didn’t have at the original hearing,” Dunn said. Dunn said the offer by the Attorney General’s Office to have another hearing was a positive move. He now wants state attorneys to admit that their case is not as strong as they claim and that there are questions about the evidence, he said. Attorney General spokeswoman Kim Norris said her office stands behind the statements assistant attorney generals made at the last hearing and welcomes a chance to clarify any matters. “We see it as a way to present any evidence, refute any allegations and answers any questions that might be outstanding in the board’s mind,” Norris said. On Thursday, parole board Chair Gary Croft issued a letter to Taft saying assertions that parties have presented inaccurate information before the board or misrepresented facts to the board causes serious concern. Croft also said if Taft delayed the execution, the board would have a full rehearing on clemency. Following the hearing, the board will make a decision and issue a new recommendation to the governor. That hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 12 in Columbus. The hearing will be conducted as if the previous hearing never took place and Spirko will be re-interviewed by a parole board member, said Andrea Dean, a spokeswoman for the board. Spirko was scheduled to die by lethal injection Sept. 20. He was convicted of killing Elgin Postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger. Mottinger was abducted Aug. 9, 1982, from the post office. Her remains were found six weeks later in a soybean field in Findlay, some 60 miles away. Taft’s decision marked the first time he’s delayed an execution. He granted clemency once in 2003 for Jerome Campbell, Dean said. Dunn said Spirko was pleased and relieved to hear the news, especially after a federal judge earlier in the week refused to reopen his appeal or delay the execution. “He was very happy,” Dunn said. The reprieve follows reports that the state presented inaccurate information at Spirko’s clemency hearing. The reports suggest that an assistant attorney general made false statements and mischaracterized evidence. The evidence pertained to what Spirko knew about the murder and his whereabouts the day of Mottinger disappeared.
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