Dayton Daily News Spirko Gets Clemency Hearing Taft grants reprieve; execution delayed Friday, September 9, 2005 By Tom Beyerlein Dayton Daily News Amid allegations that Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's senior deputy misrepresented the evidence against condemned inmate John Spirko, the state parole board Thursday ordered a new clemency hearing for Spirko and withdrew a recommendation against leniency. Gov. Bob Taft granted a reprieve — only his second since 1999 — postponing Spirko's execution date from Sept. 20 to Nov. 15 to give the parole board time to rehear and reconsider the clemency request. The board set a hearing for Oct. 12, after which it will make a new clemency recommendation to Taft. Spirko, 59, says he didn't kill rural northwest Ohio postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger despite a conviction and death sentence that have been upheld in court for more than 20 years. In a letter Thursday to Taft, parole board Chairman Gary Croft said members reached their 6-3 decision after considering the information presented to them "fairly and with due diligence." Webmaster Note: This is the first time that this Parole Board has ever had a split decision. "However, the persistent assertions that parties may have presented inaccurate information or misrepresented the facts to the parole board causes serious concern," the letter said. At Spirko's Aug. 23 clemency hearing, Petro senior deputy Timothy Prichard told the parole board that during interrogations in 1982, Spirko revealed information about Mottinger's murder that only the killer would know. Prichard said Spirko had knowledge that hadn't been reported in newspapers, and in some cases wasn't yet known to investigators. Petro's spokeswoman, Kim Norris, said the attorney general stands by Prichard's presentation of the facts and doesn't believe Prichard intended to deceive the parole board. But an analysis after the clemency hearing by The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer showed that Prichard made mistakes: Much of Spirko's so-called guilty knowledge had already been in the newspapers or was known to investigators, and there were no witnesses to key interviews of Spirko by then-U.S. Postal Inspector Paul Hartman. Webmaster Note: Paul Hartman has already admitted to lying "to mess with Spirko's defense lawyers". Either he lied to those 3 people or he's lying about lying. Many of his notes taken during interviews with Spirko have been PROVEN to have been altered. Which he denies doing or having any recollection of doing. Defense lawyers say Spirko got his information about the crime from news accounts and in lengthy interviews with investigators. Spirko brought himself to authorities' attention, offering to provide information about the Mottinger case in exchange for leniency on other, unrelated charges. Spirko defense attorney Thomas Hill said he had "grave concerns" about misstatements by Prichard, and "we think this is the only fair and proper thing — to have a complete rehearing and consider it anew." There is no physical evidence linking Spirko, now 59, to the August 1982 kidnapping and aggravated murder of Mottinger, 48, postmaster for the tiny Van Wert County town of Elgin. Spirko's interrogations weren't recorded, and he never signed a confession. According to the defense, Spirko's statements implicating himself and a friend in the killing were part of an ongoing stream of lies he told investigators about the murder. Contact Tom Beyerlein at 225-2264. Email: Tracy Spirko, John Spirko's Representative