[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

April 18



OHIO:

Ohio Death Penalty Sentencing Process Ruled Constitutional



Ohio's death penalty sentencing process is different in critical ways from a 
Florida sentencing scheme struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ohio 
Supreme Court ruled today. The state's high court unanimously rejected a Marion 
County man's challenge to the Ohio process, which he claimed violated an 
accused murderer's constitutional rights.

The ruling affirmed the death penalty of Maurice Mason, who was convicted of 
the rape and murder of Robbin Dennis in 1993. Mason had won the right to 
challenge his original death sentence in 2008. When his case went before the 
Marion County Common Pleas Court in 2016, he argued the U.S. Supreme Court's 
2016 Hurst v. Florida decision, which invalidated that state's death penalty 
sentencing process, applies to Ohio. The trial court agreed that Ohio's scheme 
was unconstitutional based on Hurst. Marion County prosecutors appealed the 
decision, and later in 2016, the Third District Court of Appeals reversed the 
decision and affirmed the death sentence.

In Hurst, the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's law violated the right to a 
jury trial guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment. Writing for 
the Ohio Supreme Court today, Justice Patrick F. Fischer explained that unlike 
procedures in Florida and other states, an Ohio jury makes every necessary 
finding to impose a death sentence, and that satisfies the Sixth Amendment 
requirements.

Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor and Justices Judith L. French and R. Patrick 
DeWine joined Justice Fischer's opinion. Sixth District Court of Appeals Judge 
James D. Jensen, sitting for recused Justice Terrence O'Donnell, and Second 
District Court of Appeals Judge Michael T. Hall, sitting for recused former 
Justice William M. O'Neill, also joined the majority opinion.

Justice Sharon L. Kennedy delivered a concurring opinion, in which she wrote 
that the Ohio Supreme Court's 2016 State v. Belton decision already determined 
the that Hurst ruling did not invalidate Ohio's death penalty sentencing 
process.

(source: Court News Ohio)