Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 12, 2006 4:15:07 GMT -5
under challenge
Several pending executions resulting from an aggressive prosecutor's staff in the 1980's are under appeal as defense attorneys challenge a system that led to 1 in 8 of Ohio's death row inmates.
State records show that the current Cuyahoga County prosecutor's staff has obtained death-penalty indictments in slightly more than a quarter of all homicides, about the same as under Prosecutor John Corrigan, who retired in 1991 and died in 2003. But a homicide then was more than four times more likely to produce a death sentence than a homicide today, The Plain Dealer reported Monday.
Even some capital punishment advocates say that some death-penalty cases during the Corrigan era would be unlikely to win a death sentence today because the evidence was so thin, the newspaper said.
In one case a federal judge cited limited evidence of guilt and a
prosecutor's withholding of evidence in ordering a new trial for death-row inmate Joe D'Ambrosio, 45. Similar problems likely tainted both trials of Thomas Keenan, now 56, who was twice sent to death row for the same 1988 murder as D'Ambrosio, based on the same evidence, the paper reported.
In another case, a federal appeals court directed a lower court to
determine whether the prosecutor in those cases improperly withheld evidence and deliberately misled the trial court in 1987 to win a death sentence against Gregory Lott, now 45.
Disparities in death penalty cases were reflected in the 1983 slaying of a Cleveland produce vendor. Admitted triggerman Leroy Head, 42, escaped the death penalty and instead got a life sentence by fingering an accomplice who was sentenced to death. Arthur Tyler, 46, could face execution this year.
None of the Cuyahoga County cases in question currently is scheduled for execution.
The cases illustrate an argument from both attorneys and judges, that the standard for winning a death sentence was much lower two decades ago - especially in Cuyahoga County and its busy criminal courts.
Ohio has 194 men and 2 women on death row awaiting execution, including 32, or 16 percent, from Cuyahoga County.
During the Corrigan era, critics say discovery - the mandatory pretrial disclosure of evidence to the defense - was haphazard, with prosecutors withholding important police reports or reading them aloud and making defense attorneys take notes.
Death-penalty prosecutions were flimsier in the 1980s than today, said longtime defense attorney David Doughton.
"Between prosecutors being aggressive and using (the death penalty) as a political tool and us not knowing the law, it was a disaster for criminal defendants," Doughton said.
A death-penalty proponent, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy J. McGinty says the standards for a death sentence have tightened since the 1980s, when he was one of Corrigan's top prosecutors.
McGinty criticized the "remarkable assault on the death penalty with the 2-decade appeals process" and anti-death-penalty appeals judges who are willing, he says, to overturn convictions on a "hyper technicality.
One-quarter of the death penalties obtained during the Corrigan era resulted from the work of Assistant Prosecutor Carmen Marino, 63, now retired. At least 3 men may be on death row because Marino concealed evidence, the paper reported, citing federal decisions.
Marino said he was proud of his record and that he has never lied in court or concealed evidence from anyone. He said assertions to the contrary were absurd.
Marino told The Associated Press on Monday that he always followed office rules on evidence disclosure. "I would go through everything with them (defense attorneys)," he said.
He said challenges to death penalty cases which he had handled reflected the finality of the possible punishment. "The death penalty is different (than prison time). They fight harder," Marino said.
Corrigan ran the prosecutor's staff with integrity and never allowed cutting corners to subvert justice, Marino said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason described Marino as a professional giant who set the standard for what a prosecutor should be. Four years ago, Mason established an annual award named for Marino to recognize the assistant prosecutor who best exemplifies tenacity, integrity and professionalism.
ON THE NET----Death row inmates:
www.drc.state.oh.us/Public/deathrow.htm
(source: Associated Press)
Several pending executions resulting from an aggressive prosecutor's staff in the 1980's are under appeal as defense attorneys challenge a system that led to 1 in 8 of Ohio's death row inmates.
State records show that the current Cuyahoga County prosecutor's staff has obtained death-penalty indictments in slightly more than a quarter of all homicides, about the same as under Prosecutor John Corrigan, who retired in 1991 and died in 2003. But a homicide then was more than four times more likely to produce a death sentence than a homicide today, The Plain Dealer reported Monday.
Even some capital punishment advocates say that some death-penalty cases during the Corrigan era would be unlikely to win a death sentence today because the evidence was so thin, the newspaper said.
In one case a federal judge cited limited evidence of guilt and a
prosecutor's withholding of evidence in ordering a new trial for death-row inmate Joe D'Ambrosio, 45. Similar problems likely tainted both trials of Thomas Keenan, now 56, who was twice sent to death row for the same 1988 murder as D'Ambrosio, based on the same evidence, the paper reported.
In another case, a federal appeals court directed a lower court to
determine whether the prosecutor in those cases improperly withheld evidence and deliberately misled the trial court in 1987 to win a death sentence against Gregory Lott, now 45.
Disparities in death penalty cases were reflected in the 1983 slaying of a Cleveland produce vendor. Admitted triggerman Leroy Head, 42, escaped the death penalty and instead got a life sentence by fingering an accomplice who was sentenced to death. Arthur Tyler, 46, could face execution this year.
None of the Cuyahoga County cases in question currently is scheduled for execution.
The cases illustrate an argument from both attorneys and judges, that the standard for winning a death sentence was much lower two decades ago - especially in Cuyahoga County and its busy criminal courts.
Ohio has 194 men and 2 women on death row awaiting execution, including 32, or 16 percent, from Cuyahoga County.
During the Corrigan era, critics say discovery - the mandatory pretrial disclosure of evidence to the defense - was haphazard, with prosecutors withholding important police reports or reading them aloud and making defense attorneys take notes.
Death-penalty prosecutions were flimsier in the 1980s than today, said longtime defense attorney David Doughton.
"Between prosecutors being aggressive and using (the death penalty) as a political tool and us not knowing the law, it was a disaster for criminal defendants," Doughton said.
A death-penalty proponent, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy J. McGinty says the standards for a death sentence have tightened since the 1980s, when he was one of Corrigan's top prosecutors.
McGinty criticized the "remarkable assault on the death penalty with the 2-decade appeals process" and anti-death-penalty appeals judges who are willing, he says, to overturn convictions on a "hyper technicality.
One-quarter of the death penalties obtained during the Corrigan era resulted from the work of Assistant Prosecutor Carmen Marino, 63, now retired. At least 3 men may be on death row because Marino concealed evidence, the paper reported, citing federal decisions.
Marino said he was proud of his record and that he has never lied in court or concealed evidence from anyone. He said assertions to the contrary were absurd.
Marino told The Associated Press on Monday that he always followed office rules on evidence disclosure. "I would go through everything with them (defense attorneys)," he said.
He said challenges to death penalty cases which he had handled reflected the finality of the possible punishment. "The death penalty is different (than prison time). They fight harder," Marino said.
Corrigan ran the prosecutor's staff with integrity and never allowed cutting corners to subvert justice, Marino said.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason described Marino as a professional giant who set the standard for what a prosecutor should be. Four years ago, Mason established an annual award named for Marino to recognize the assistant prosecutor who best exemplifies tenacity, integrity and professionalism.
ON THE NET----Death row inmates:
www.drc.state.oh.us/Public/deathrow.htm
(source: Associated Press)