[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- OHIO

[Joerg Sommer]

death penalty news

September 7, 2005


OHIO:

Federal judge denies Spirko's motion to stop execution

With 14 days to go, a federal judge Tuesday refused to stop the Sept. 
20 execu-tion of a man convicted of killing the Elgin postmistress in 1982.

On the same day, John Spirko's attorneys filed a motion with the Ohio 
Supreme Court ask-ing to delay his execution to give the Ohio Parole 
Board more time to decide whether to con-duct a new or supplemental 
clemency hearing.

U.S. District Judge James Carr denied a request by Spirko's legal 
team to reopen his earlier appeal based on the claim of new evidence 
and that prosecutors had withheld evidence.

Carr found prosecutors did nothing wrong and rejected the claim of 
new evidence that cen-tered around the whereabouts of an alleged 
accomplice who prosecutors dropped charges against.

Spirko's legal team is expected to appeal Carr's ruling to the 6th 
U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-peals. Meanwhile, the parole board is 
expected to rule today on whether to afford Spirko an-other clemency 
hearing. The board voted against Spirko's request for clemency in a 
report it sent to Gov. Bob Taft, who makes the final decision.

Spirko, who today is 59, was sentenced to death for the Aug. 9, 1982, 
abduction and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger. Her remains were found 
six weeks later in a soybean field in Findlay, some 60 miles away.

(source: LimaOhio.com)