[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., LA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 3




TEXAS----impending execution

He's Fighting to Save His Family's Killer. The Killer: His Own Son



Bart Whitaker set to be executed Feb. 22 for killing his mom and brother, but 
dad isn't giving up on him

"My wife and son were murdered by a masked gunman, and my other son and I were 
left for dead, but survived." Those are the words of Kent Whitaker on his 
website, detailing the horrific crime that tore his life apart in December 
2003. But, he adds, things soon got worse: The son who'd survived, Thomas 
"Bart" Whitaker, was later arrested and convicted for planning the attack with 
2 friends, and he now awaits a Feb. 22 execution on Texas' death row. The 
Washington Post documents the elder Whitaker's rage in the hours just after the 
shootings, which had taken place as the 4 family members arrived home from a 
dinner out. As he stewed in his hospital bed, recovering from the bullet that 
had come within inches of his heart, Whitaker first vowed to "inflict pain" on 
the shooter, then started thinking on his faith and how God wouldn't want him 
to go down a path of vengeance.

And so he decided then to forgive, "no matter who was responsible" - a promise 
made before finding out that Bart, in his early 20s, had helped mastermind the 
attack. Even though Whitaker and his extended family pleaded with the DA not to 
pursue the death penalty, prosecutors painted Bart as a sociopath who wanted 
his parents' money; he was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 
sentenced to die. The case of the now 38-year-old, who's been on good behavior 
behind bars and is about to earn his master's degree, underscores how victims 
should be folded into the process of doling out justice, Whitaker says. "This 
isn't just a case of a dad who is ignoring the truth about his son," he says. 
"Believe me, I'm aware of what his choices have cost me." The Whitakers have 
filed a petition with Texas' parole and pardons board to commute Bart's 
sentence to life in prison.

(source: newser.com)

*******************************

Man charged in deadly assault of son's mother headed to trial in Denton County



The jury trial for Ricardo Alfonso Lara-Martinez begins Monday, more than three 
years after he was accused of murdering his young son's mother at a local 
business office.

The trial, which begins at 9 a.m., will be in Judge Bruce McFarling's 362nd 
Judicial District Court.

FBI agents returned Lara-Martinez to Denton in June after he had been in 
custody in Mexico since February 2016. He's specifically charged in the murder 
of his son's mother, Maria Isabel Romero Medina, who was found dead Dec. 13, 
2014, at Sanchez Insurance and Tax Services, 1111 E. McKinney St.

He remains in Denton County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail. Lara-Martinez's 
lawyer, Denton attorney Derek Adame, maintains the woman's death was an 
accident.

"We're optimistic," he said. "Lara-Martinez's position is this was accidental, 
and we're hoping that's what the evidence will show. We don't believe he was 
guilty, and we don't believe the state will be able to prove that."

Police said Medina died Dec. 12, 2014, as a result of a deliberate assault. She 
suffered numerous injuries, including a fractured skull. The cause of death 
included strangulation, according to Lara-Martinez's arrest affidavit.

Lara-Martinez and Medina had been in a custody battle for the boy, Ricardo 
Alekzander Lara, who was 4 years old at the time of her death. Police said it 
was a point of contention between the parents.

"The manner in which the victim was murdered is indicative of a direct reaction 
to a strong emotional response, frequently seen in and known to happen in child 
custody cases," the affidavit states.

Lara-Martinez fled to Mexico with his son shortly after police found Medina's 
badly beaten body at her workplace. After an Amber Alert had been issued for 
the boy, a man came forward to Denton police and said he had driven 
Lara-Martinez and his son to Mexico, according to earlier reports.

Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for a murder charge as the search for 
Lara-Martinez continued. In early 2015, a Denton County grand jury indicted 
Martinez on the charge.

The following year, a Mexican judge granted Lara-Martinez's extradition to the 
country. Police found him with his son in Mexico in February 2016 and returned 
the now 7-year-old boy to Texas. Then, in June 2017, Denton police 
investigators took custody of Lara-Martinez at DFW International Airport. 
Police said when he returned, he admitted to killing the woman.

Other trials rescheduled

Several other high-profile cases that were originally slated for Monday trials 
have been rescheduled.

The jury trial for Earl Leroy Thompson Jr., who was arrested in June in 
connection with a sexual assault and attempted sexual assaults near the 
University of North Texas campus, is now set for April 30 in Judge Brody 
Shanklin's 211th Judicial District Court.

Hanyel Leon-Gomez, the man accused of fatally shooting former Guyer High School 
football player Deandre Wilson in the head at a bar near the UNT campus, is 
expected to go to trial June 4 in Judge Steve Burgess' 158th Judicial District 
Court.

Also, Daniel Greco, who is accused of murdering 40-year-old Anjanette Harris in 
early March 2016, has yet to receive a new trial date for his capital murder 
charge.

Police said Greco strangled Harris and dumped her body in a wooded area near 
Shorewood Drive in Little Elm. His case is the first since 2011 in which Denton 
County prosecutors have sought the death penalty.

(source: Denton Chronicle)

******************************

Former death row minister reflects on service



He stood inside the execution chamber at the Huntsville Unit 43 times as a 
prison chaplain.

Today, he's 74, preaching at the First United Methodist Church in Refugio. But 
the Rev. Ken Houston still recalls the tight, sterile space vividly, where it 
was once his job to stand near a gurney and lay hands on death row inmates as 
they were administered lethal injections.

"Most of the time, I didn't know why they were being executed until afterward. 
I didn't want to know because I was afraid it might influence the way I 
ministered to them," said Houston, who formerly prayed and shared the Gospel 
with some of Texas' most violent and murderous offenders. "They may not have 
deserved to ever get out of prison and walk amongst us again, but every man has 
the right to salvation."

Houston spent three years of his life working as Huntsville's prison chaplain, 
ministering to the general population, performing more than 300 funerals for 
inmates who died while incarcerated and praying alongside the inmates at the 
Polunsky Unit, Huntsville's death row residence.

"Most of them would talk with me just like you and me are talking now," he 
said. "I'm a big guy, so I was never afraid or intimidated. I would sometimes 
reach inside their bars and hold their hands while we prayed. A few of them I 
baptized out of a Styrofoam cup."

On the day of an execution, they were taken from Polunsky to a room at the 
Huntsville prison, also called "Walls Unit," 8 steps from the execution 
chamber, Houston said. For the next few hours, Houston met with the family and 
the inmate, administered final prayers and assisted with any last requests, 
including final meals.

"One inmate wanted chitterlings; one wanted a bag of Jolly Ranchers. Some 
wanted a steak. Most of the time, they wanted a hamburger; that was the most 
requested," said Houston, who helped the inmates obtain any final meal items 
not provided by the prison. "A lot of them wouldn't eat it. They'd pick at it 
and look at it. But it's a tough day. I mean, who can eat at a time like that, 
anyway?"

When it was time, he walked eight steps to the execution chamber with the 
inmate and helped them get ready to die.

"The chaplain stands at his feet, the warden at his head, and the warden asks 
if they have any final words, which some did and some didn't," Houston said, 
mentioning he and the warden always wore nice suits, cowboy boots and sometimes 
cowboy hats to show respect for both the families and the inmates. "I always 
put my hand on their leg to provide them some comfort."

A few moments later, the warden would adjust his glasses or give a signal to 
the doctors behind the glass it was time to administer the chemicals.

Inside the room, only a few feet separated the inmate from one-sided glass 
windows of onlookers, where the family of the inmate, family of the victims and 
doctors administering the lethal injection chemicals looked on.

"Everyone I worked with during that time was highly professional," he said. "No 
one ever acted like, 'We got you now, sucker,' and neither did any of the 
crew."

It wasn't an easy job, recalls Houston, who admitted the secondary 
psychological and spiritual messiness of ministering to the men - who ranged 
from what he describes as pure evil to those who made mistakes grave enough to 
land them on death row - was something he had to reconcile daily.

"Sometimes, after (an execution), I would go home at night and I wouldn't even 
turn the lights on. I would sit there and think about what has taken place," 
Houston remembered, mentioning he lived in a state house behind the prison. 
"The sheer nonsense of people who had thrown their life away because of the 
crimes they committed, it troubled me."

Serving as a chaplain at Huntsville, Texas' oldest prison, was a job he 
accepted during a ministerial transition phase in his life, from 1999 to 2001, 
a period of three years that taught him more about God and the need for sharing 
the Gospel than any other long stint he has performed in church ministry since.

"It gave me a deeper understanding of God's grace and how God could possibly 
forgive people for sins against Christ," he said. "You have to be able to love 
a person regardless of what they've done. It's an agape (altruistic) kind of 
love, the kind God has for us, the kind that says, 'I don't care what you've 
done; I love you anyway.'"

At the time, Houston was 42 years old and a newly divorced Southern Baptist 
preacher. He knew after the divorce it was possible that finding a new church 
assignment with the Southern Baptist denomination could be difficult. That's 
ultimately what led him to transition into Methodism with the help of his 
second wife, Lynn Houston, a practicing Methodist who met her husband while 
leading a large prison ministry through her church in Corpus Christi at the 
time. She was also a prison lay minister and helped send 400 letters to 
prisoners each month.

When she decided to cross over into ministering on death row, she reached out 
to the prison chaplains at Huntsville, where she would eventually meet her 
husband.

The 2 bonded over their passion for prisoners. And on the night they married, 
Houston and the warden allowed her to tour the death row facilities.

"He had such a big heart for them," she said. "He knew some of those guys did 
horrible, horrible things, but he knew they needed God."

Some of the men Houston ministered to on death row included Jason Massey, who 
was executed in 2001 for fatally shooting 2 siblings, Christina Benjamin, 13 
and stepbrother James King, 14. Massey also severed the girl's hands and feet, 
and there was evidence of sexual crimes.

Houston was there as Massey was executed. Massey used his final moments to 
apologize a final time to the victims' family, utter a prayer and admit to 
police where he left the girl's remains - in the Trinity River.

"That's heavy stuff to take home each night," he recalled, remembering how calm 
Massey was on the day of his execution.

But Houston said Massey was a unique turnaround in prison and one of the few he 
believes truly accepted Christ while in prison. He even wrote an emphatic 
prayer in Houston's Bible before he died, which he said some of the death row 
inmates would do after a period of time to show their appreciation for 
Houston's time with them.

"Some of them were very hostile when I tried to talk with them about Christ, 
but a lot of them were very sorrowful for what they had done," he said, 
acknowledging the job required a strong countenance on his part and constant 
time in prayer with the Lord to sort out the balance between performing his 
job, maintaining order and rules of the prison and practicing non-judgment.

"Even now, I have people who ask me how I could minister to these men. They 
can't understand forgiveness in this context, how anybody could kill 2 or 3 
children and a mom and a dad and possibly go to heaven," he said. "But knowing 
what the Bible says, I use scripture to explain it. When Christ went to the 
cross, he died for all men, not just the good ones."

Houston said he still hasn't formed a solid opinion about whether he accepts 
the death penalty as just or needed. He admits it's more cost-efficient to 
house the inmates for life rather than execute them. He recognizes the irony of 
those who are executed and what's written on their death certificates as a 
cause of death: "Homicide by lethal injection."

He also realizes few have cares for death row prisoners housed at the Polunsky 
Unit at Huntsville, where they spend their days in a small enclosure with no 
windows to the outside world and an hour a day in an outdoor caged space for 
recreation.

"It's very inhumane. It's hotter than the hubs of hell in there. Those cells 
are cold in the winter and hot in the summer," he said.

But he does recognize the need for prison chaplaincy. And has seen the positive 
effect it has had on men and women's lives, evidenced by the few who show up 
after they're paroled.

Only a few months ago, after the ravage of Hurricane Harvey, a previous 
prisoner he and his wife ministered to while in prison showed up in Refugio 
with a truckload of supplies and food.

"It was as if he was trying to repay us somehow for what we could do for him 
while in prison," Lynn Houston said.

It's been 17 years since his last execution, but Houston is forever changed by 
what he learned as a Huntsville chaplain. And he still gives sermons on grace 
and forgiveness, teaching lessons he learned about the salvation of murderers.

"I wouldn't change anything about that time in my life because the lessons I 
learned about God I wouldn't have learned otherwise," he said. "I've truly been 
in the trenches of ministry."

(source: Victoria Advocate)








FLORIDA:

Justices reject 10 more death penalty appeals



The Florida Supreme Court on Friday turned down appeals by 10 longtime death 
row inmates, as it continued rejecting batches of similar cases.

The court has rejected 80 such appeals during the past 2 weeks in 8 batches.

Like the earlier cases, Friday's rulings involved death row inmates who were 
sentenced before a 2002 cutoff date.

The inmates' appeals stemmed from a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case 
known as Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision.

The 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found Florida's death-penalty sentencing 
system was unconstitutional because it gave too much authority to judges, 
instead of juries.

The subsequent Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree 
on critical findings before judges can impose death sentences and must 
unanimously recommend the death penalty.

But the Florida Supreme Court made the new sentencing requirements apply to 
cases since June 2002.

That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as Ring v. Arizona 
that was a premise for striking down Florida's death-penalty sentencing system 
in 2016.

In each of the 80 cases, the death row inmates had been sentenced to death 
before the Ring decision and argued unsuccessfully that the new unanimity 
requirements should also apply to their cases.

The inmates who lost appeals Friday were Floyd William Damren in a Clay County 
case; Samuel Jason Derrick in a Pasco County case; Michael Allen Griffin in a 
Miami-Dade County case; George Michael Hodges in a Hillsborough County case; 
Emanuel Johnson in a Sarasota County case; Gary Lawrence in a Santa Rosa County 
case; Antonio Lebaron Melton in an Escambia County case; Alvin Leroy Morton in 
a Pasco County case; Thomas M. Overton in a Monroe County case; and Norberto 
Pietri in a Palm Beach County case.

(source: News Service of Florida)

***********************

Supreme Court rules new death penalty law doesn't apply to Pensacola inmate



The Florida Supreme Court on Friday denied the appeal of a Pensacola death row 
inmate saying the state's new law requiring unanimous jury decision doesn't 
retroactively apply to his case.

Antonio Melton, 45, is on death row for the January 1991 shooting death of pawn 
shop owner George Carter.

Melton was convicted of 1st-degree felony murder and armed robbery, in part 
based on the testimony of his co-defendant Ben Lewis. He also was sentenced to 
life in prison for the November 1990 shooting death of cab driver Ricky Saylor, 
which the state used as an aggravating factor to argue for death.

Melton has been on death row since 1994, when an Escambia County jury 
recommended a death sentence with a split vote of 8-4.

Melton's appeal to the Florida Supreme Court made claim that he should be 
granted post-conviction relief based on a new law signed last year that now 
requires juries to unanimously recommend a death sentence.

The law was based on another local case, that of Timothy Hurst, who claimed it 
was unconstitutional not to have unanimity in a death decision.

Melton's argument was denied in the written opinion issued Thursday, as the 
justices claimed the Hurst decision does not retroactively apply to Melton's 
case.

(source: Pensacola News Journal)

*******************

Death penalty upheld for 1988 murder of West Palm Beach cop



The Florida Supreme Court on Friday upheld a sentence of death for an escaped 
convict who fatally shot West Palm Beach police officer Brian Chappell 3 
decades ago.

In 1 of dozens of death penalty cases the high court has decided in recent 
weeks, justices ruled that Norberto "Spiderman" Pietri isn't entitled to a new 
sentencing hearing even though Florida's former capital punishment system was 
struck down as unconstitutional, in part, because it didn't require unanimous 
jury decisions.

While only 4 of 8 jurors voted that Pietri should be put to death, his 
conviction became final in 1995. The Florida Supreme Court has previously ruled 
that only those sentenced to death after after June 24, 2002 could seek new 
sentencing hearings if the jury decision wasn't unanimous.

The date marks the release of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an Arizona case 
that turned on similar issues. The decision put Florida officials on notice 
that its death penalty system was flawed, the state high court ruled.

Scores of police officers turned out at a hearing last year to persuade Palm 
Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes to keep Pietri on death row.

Noting that Pietri escaped prison, killed Chappell - who "didn't even get his 
gun out" - and continued to commit violent crimes until he was recaptured, 
Kastrenakes called Pietri's death sentence "absolutely appropriate."

With 6 years on the police force, 31-year-old Chappell was shot after he 
stopped Pietri's truck on Nottingham Boulevard just off Dixie Highway in August 
1988. As Chappell walked to the driver side window, Pietri, then 25 and 
nicknamed "Spiderman" for the 3-inch spider tattoo on his neck, fired once with 
a 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

The bullet tore through Chappell's chest. He staggered back, grabbed his 
portable radio and spoke his last 4 words: "Officer shot. Officer shot."

Chappell is the last West Palm Beach officer slain in the line of duty.

(source: Palm Beach Post)








ALABAMA:

Alabama Supreme Court refuses review in capital case



The Alabama Supreme Court is refusing to hear the appeal of a man sentenced to 
die in the killing of a convenience store clerk in Huntsville in 1990.

The justices on Friday released a brief order rejecting a challenge filed by 
death row inmate Jeffery Day Rieber.

The court didn't explain its decision.

A Madison County jury convicted Rieber in 1992 in the fatal shooting of Glenda 
Craig, who was killed while working at a store where a robbery occurred.

Jurors recommended a sentence of life without parole by a 7-5 vote, but a judge 
imposed the death sentence.

Rieber has challenged both the conviction and his death sentence, but appeals 
courts have ruled that the death penalty wasn't disproportionate compared to 
sentences in other, similar cases.

(source: Associated Press)

***********************

Alabama death row inmate granted stay of execution by federal judge



An Alabama death row inmate, set to die later this month, was granted a stay of 
execution.

Assistant Alabama Attorney Generals yesterday argued in federal court that 
Doyle Lee Hamm, who has been on death row for more than 30 years, should be 
executed on Feb. 22-- the date the Alabama Supreme Court set in December. 
Hamm's attorney argued the 60-year-old inmate, who has cancer, is too sick to 
die by lethal injection.

U.S. District Judge Karon O Bowdre denied the state's motion to dismiss the 
case, court records show. According to Hamm's attorney and law professor at 
Columbia, Bernard Harcourt, the court granted Hamm a stay of execution and will 
allow the case to go forward.

Alabama's lethal injection procedure requires 3 drugs to be injected into the 
inmate, with the 1st being the sedative midazolam.

Assistant Alabama Attorney Generals Thomas Govan and Beth Jackson Hughes argued 
Thursday at the hearing that there is no evidence to support Harcourt's 
argument that Hamm's condition has worsened to the extent that he cannot be 
executed intravenously.

Harcourt states Hamm should be killed via oral injection-- which midazolam 
cannot be used for.

According to information revealed in court and through records, Hamm was 
diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and underwent treatment. The Alabama Department 
of Corrections said Hamm's cancer went into remission in March 2016, and no 
scans from an oncologist have been performed since. In the spring of 2017, Hamm 
complained of having lumps on his chest and abdomen area. An X-ray was 
preformed, but no PET scans or biopsies were completed. Earlier this month, 
doctors said there was no evidence of cancer in his clavicle, but did not have 
a definitive answer about the other lumps.

(source: al.com)








LOUISIANA:

Sanity hearing canceled for man who says God said to kill



A hearing to evaluate the sanity of a Louisiana man who his lawyer said 
believes God ordered him to kill his 18-month-old daughter so he'd be executed 
and resurrected as Christ was canceled after his murder indictment.

Mark Hambrick, 46, was to have had a "lunacy hearing" with a magistrate 
Thursday, but his indictment on charges of 1st-degree murder and 2nd-degree 
cruelty sent the case to Criminal District Court.

After Hambrick's arrest in the Oct. 17 death of Amina Hambrick, the Orleans 
Parish Sheriff's Office found him "acutely psychotic" and sent him to its 
psychiatric wing at a state prison, according to a motion for psychiatric 
examination filed by his lawyer.

The motion also says Hambrick is being treated but "retains a detailed, nuanced 
delusion regarding his death and resurrection as Christ explaining why God 
commanded him to kill his daughter."

"Mr. Hambrick's interactions with undersigned counsel, as well as his desired 
outcomes for his case, are viewed entirely through the prism of this delusion. 
... The delusion determines how he understands and assesses the facts and 
nature of the case and is interfering with his ability to rationally and 
competently assist the undersigned counsel in his defense," public defender 
Barksdale Hortenstine Jr. wrote.

He said in an email Thursday night that he cannot comment on open cases.

Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office spokesman Ken Daley said Hambrick's 
defense attorney can request an evaluation order from the judge who gets the 
case in criminal court.

Hambrick called 911 the morning of Oct. 17 to report that he had killed the 
toddler, according to a news release Thursday from the DA's office.

"Hambrick told investigators he had stabbed the child 4 times in the heart with 
a serrated kitchen knife, then held her for nearly 5 hours waiting for her to 
bleed out," the statement said. "When the toddler girl failed to succumb to her 
stabbing injuries, Hambrick said he suffocated her to end her life."

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said prosecutors had not decided whether to 
ask for the death penalty. Execution and life in prison are the only possible 
sentences for 1st-degree murder.

Hambrick had been held without bond since his arrest. After reading the 
indictment Thursday, Criminal District Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson set bond at 
$1.5 million.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

Former Tibbetts Juror: Commute Convicted Killer's Sentence----Raymond Tibbetts 
was sentenced to death for two grisly Cincinnati murders 20 years ago. But now, 
just days before his execution, details about his horrific childhood have 
convinced one of his former jurors that he should get life in prison instead.

A former juror in an Ohio murder trial that sent a man to death row is now 
asking Gov. John Kasich to pump the brakes on the convicted man's Feb. 13 
execution.

Ross Gieger's name appears on the list of Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas 
jurors who in 1998 convicted Raymond Tibbetts of murder and recommended he be 
put to death. But in a Jan. 30 letter to Kasich, Gieger says new evidence has 
convinced him that the death penalty isn't appropriate for Tibbetts.

"I am writing today to ask you show mercy to Raymond Tibbetts by commuting his 
death sentence to life in prison with no possibility of parole," Gieger writes. 
"This is not an easy request for me as I was a juror on the trial for that 
horrible crime."

His reasons for the change of heart? Revelations not discussed at trial about 
horrific abuse Tibbetts suffered as a child, details about his drug addiction, 
lack of preparation from Tibbetts' defense team during the sentencing portion 
of his trial and other factors.

Tibbets was convicted of stabbing to death 67-year-old Fred Hicks and beating 
his 42-year-old caretaker Judith Crawford to death with a baseball bat in 
Hicks' Cincinnati home in 1997. Tibbetts had married Crawford a few weeks 
prior. Authorities found 3 knives left in Hicks. The grisly case made big local 
headlines. Tibbetts was sentenced to death for Hicks' death and life in prison 
without parole for Crawford's.

But important information about Tibbetts' background wasn't explored fully 
during his trial, opponents of his execution say. Tibbetts, who was heavily 
addicted to opiates and alcohol, had undiagnosed mental illnesses stemming at 
least in part from a chaotic and unstable childhood. His biological mother and 
father were mostly absent, according to testimony from his attorneys before a 
clemency board hearing in January 2017.

When they were around, they were physically abusive. Tibbetts and his siblings 
were taken from the home when he was two years old, and he then bounced around 
between different foster homes and orphanages, where he also experienced abuse 
and neglect.

Research has shown that experiencing abuse can greatly affect a person's 
long-term mental health and cause a number of behavioral issues. Psychological 
experts who testified at Tibbetts' clemency hearing said that the persistent 
abuse and neglect "rewired" his brain, and that his background was a "recipe 
for disaster."

Testimony from Tibbetts' sister as well as social service records about his 
childhood were available but not presented at trial.

Despite these revelations, Tibbetts' clemency board voted 11-1 against 
commuting his sentence. That's been a pattern: in 2011, the U.S. Court of 
Appeals also upheld his sentence. But in their decision, the 3 judges 
acknowledged that representation at his trial was inadequate.

Another attempt to save Tibbetts from lethal injection failed Feb. 1 when the 
U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a constitutional challenge to 
that execution method.

Tibbetts' attorney "certainly could have conducted a more thorough 
investigation" into this upbringing, 2 judges voting to uphold the sentence 
wrote. But they also argued that the brutality of the crime went beyond that 
information. But a dissenting judge argued that his attorney's "failure to 
engage in basic preparation" meant that his sentence should be reconsidered.

At least 1 former juror who originally recommended the death penalty for 
Tibbetts agrees.

"Based on what I know today I would not have recommended the death penalty," 
Gieger writes in his letter to Kasich.

Gov. Kasich's office did not reply to a request for comment on the letter. This 
story will be updated when we received that response.

In the months before the murders, Tibbetts attempted suicide. He had attempted 
to get into a treatment program for drug and alcohol addiction a month and a 
half before killing Hicks and Crawford, but was turned away. Those efforts show 
Tibbetts was suffering from mental illness, his attorneys have argued.

That's a common situation in death row cases in Ohio. 23 of Ohio's 26 death row 
inmates suffer from cognitive disabilities or mental illness.

17 of those inmantes had experienced severe childhood trauma rooted in physical 
or sexual abuse, and 6 were experiencing severe mental illness. 3 of the 26 men 
on Ohio's death row waived the opportunity to present mitigating evidence 
related to their crimes, and thus it's unknown if they have a history of abuse, 
mental illness or cognitive disabilities.

An Ohio Supreme Court joint task force on the death penalty included a ban on 
executing the mentally ill among recommendations it has made to the state. Many 
of those recommendations, including the ban, have not been passed by state 
lawmakers or implemented by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and 
Corrections.

A bill introduced into the Ohio General Assembly last year by State Rep. Bill 
Seitz, a Republican from Cincinnati, would take up that recommendation, 
preventing the execution of convicts who can prove they were suffering from 
mental illness or impairment at the time of their crimes and allow current 
inmates on death row to file for resentencing.

The Massachusetts-based Fair Punishment Project advocates for a more fair and 
accountable justice system across the country. It says Ohio's death row inmates 
illustrate big problems with its administration of the state's most severe 
punishment.

"Unless the governor or a court intervenes, over the course of the next 2 
years, Ohio is poised to violate that constitutional limitation by scheduling 
the executions of nearly a dozen individuals with devastating impairments, 
including mental illness, childhood abuse, and intellectual disability," a 
report by FPP released last year about Ohio reads.

Others disagree, however. Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association Executive 
Director John Murphy has said that current state laws against executions for 
the mentally ill or disabled are adequate safeguards and that any further bars 
would inhibit the justice system from appropriately applying the death penalty.

(source: citybeat.com)