Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 10, 2006 3:28:46 GMT -5
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The attorney general's office may ask Gov. Bob Taft to delay a convicted killer's execution a fourth time so DNA testing can be completed, a spokeswoman said.
Additional time is needed to conduct the genetic tests requested by John Spirko's lawyers, said Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro.
She said Wednesday that it was "very likely we will be asking for another extension."
Spirko's execution, by injection, is scheduled for July 19. Taft has delayed it on three previous occasions at Petro's request, twice for 60 days and most recently for six months.
Spirko, 59, originally was scheduled for execution Sept. 19, 2005. He was convicted in the 1982 abduction and slaying of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, the postmistress in Elgin in northwestern Ohio.
Courts at all levels have upheld the conviction and death sentence, but Spirko claims he is innocent and his attorneys say the evidence against him is thin.
Defense attorneys have asked the state to conduct DNA tests on items collected from the farm field where Mottinger's body was found.
Source: Ohio.com www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/14768958.htm
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The attorney general's office may ask Gov. Bob Taft to delay a convicted killer's execution a fourth time so DNA testing can be completed, a spokeswoman said.
Additional time is needed to conduct the genetic tests requested by John Spirko's lawyers, said Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Petro.
She said Wednesday that it was "very likely we will be asking for another extension."
Spirko's execution, by injection, is scheduled for July 19. Taft has delayed it on three previous occasions at Petro's request, twice for 60 days and most recently for six months.
Spirko, 59, originally was scheduled for execution Sept. 19, 2005. He was convicted in the 1982 abduction and slaying of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, the postmistress in Elgin in northwestern Ohio.
Courts at all levels have upheld the conviction and death sentence, but Spirko claims he is innocent and his attorneys say the evidence against him is thin.
Defense attorneys have asked the state to conduct DNA tests on items collected from the farm field where Mottinger's body was found.
Source: Ohio.com www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/14768958.htm