Ohio governor rejects parole board recommendation of capital clemency

As detailed in this new AP report, "Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has denied clemency for the triggerman in a 1995 murder-for-hire scheme, overriding the state parole board's recommendation for mercy."   As regular readers may recall from posts here and here, the parole board had recommended clemency based in part on the fact that the defendant, Jason Getsy, was the only one of the persons involved in this crime sentenced to death

This related local story reveals that Ohio's attorney general apparently made a pitch to the governor to deny clemency because, according to the Ohio AG, co-defendant disparity was not a sound basis for granting clemency:

Trumbull County prosecutor Dennis Watkins received a five-page opinion from [Ohio Attorney General Richard] Cordray, detailing the reasons he believes Getsy should not be granted clemency.

In the report, Cordray wrote that the Ohio parole board's conclusion that Getsy's sentence should be commuted to reflect the sentence given to his accomplice is not legally sound. "Just because a case involves multiple defendants does not mean that all of them are equally culpable on the facts," the report states.

Cordray wrote that the case against Getsy was stronger than the one against accomplice John Santine, noting that Getsy confessed to being the shooter. "The purpose of executive clemency is to grant mercy where it is warranted, and to correct injustices that cannot be or are not corrected by the judicial branch," Cordray wrote.

Cordray said Getsy was not subject to an injustice. "Getsy's request for clemency should be evaluated based on his own culpability, and not based on what evidence was available to be presented or how it may have been interpreted in a co-defendant's case," the report said.

Some recent related posts:

• Ohio board recommends clemency in capital case based on co-defendant disparity
• Debate heating up over recommended capital clemency in Ohio
• "A new Texas? Ohio's death penalty examined"
• Ohio — aka the Texas of the north — setting busy execution schedule
• Ohio — aka the northern Texas — executes again