June 11, 2009
Ohio to set more time between executions
The Ohio Supreme Court said Thursday it will schedule future executions at least three weeks apart, an announcement made as the state prepares to put two men to death next month and as many as four more by year’s end.
The court made the change Thursday in a decision denying Marvallous Keene’s request to delay his July 21 execution for killing five people in a 1992 rampage in Dayton.
The court didn’t explain its decision, but officials involved in executions have tried recently to avoid too many dates at once.
Last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office asked prosecutors to coordinate how they filed their requests for execution dates for fear of swamping the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Ted Strickland welcomed the decision, saying it was important to allow the state time to carry out its responsibilities and to ensure the process is handled respectfully, said spokeswoman Amanda Wurst.
Keene’s state public defenders had asked the Supreme Court to delay the execution to give them more time to prepare for his June 17 clemency hearing.
The state Public Defender’s Office does not have the resources to process two execution cases within a month, thanks to budget cuts, staff reductions and duties representing several other death row inmates, assistant public defender Rachel Troutman told the court.
State public defenders are also representing John Fautenberry, scheduled to die July 14 for the fatal shooting of a man in southwest Ohio during a 1991 multistate series of killings.
“This Court should also take notice of the emotional toll it will take on the Ohio Public Defender’s staff to run two execution protocols in a single month,” Troutman said, adding the schedule would also take a toll on prison staff, the Ohio Parole Board and the Attorney General’s Office.
Montgomery County prosecutors noted that the court had already delayed Keene’s clemency hearing by a week from June 10 to June 17.
Carley Ingram, an assistant prosecutor, also said the state public defender’s office had represented Keene for the past 15 years and knows the facts of the case.
“His desire for additional time does not outweigh the pain re-setting the date will cause to the sisters, mothers, fathers, and others who loved those he killed,” Ingram said in a court filing.
The rampage took place over the Christmas holidays when Keene and five accomplices began a robbing and killing binge.
After killing three people, Keene and one accomplice killed two of their other accomplices to prevent them from snitching about the crimes.
The Supreme Court has scheduled additional executions in August, September, November and December.
The court’s brief ruling Thursday said: “In general, future execution dates will be scheduled in order that at least three weeks will lapse between scheduled executions.”
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/...een-executions
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