Innocence claim and execution pace prompting capital questions in Ohio

The top headline on this front page of this Sunday's Columbus Disptach asks "Timeout From Death?" and follows with this subheading "Questions in the case of a man heading toward execution prompt calls for a review of Death Row cases - and a possible moratorium."  Here is the start of a lengthy article:

The former high-school football star sits with shackles around his thick legs and says things you would expect from a man on Death Row.

He is innocent.  Someone else shot and killed those three people.  He has a good alibi.  Local police poisoned witnesses against him.  The photo lineup of suspects was rigged.  There was a phantom witness. "I can't see me being put to death," said Kevin Keith, 46, who is scheduled for execution Sept. 15 and the requisite clemency hearing this week.  "It would be a sad day for me, my family and the justice system."

Although they all might not believe everything Keith says, or that he's innocent, a growing number of people have doubts about his case — including the man who could save him.  "It has circumstances that I find troubling," said Gov. Ted Strickland, who has the power to grant Keith clemency.  "We are looking at that case very seriously."

Cases such as Keith's, coupled with Ohio's pace for a record number of executions this year, have prompted current and former high-level officials to call for a comprehensive review of all Death Row cases — and possibly a moratorium on executions.  The officials include two former prison directors and three prominent Republicans: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, former Attorney General Jim Petro and state Sen. David Goodman of New Albany.

Adding to the momentum are five death-sentence commutations by two governors since 2003, passage of a strong DNA law to avoid wrongful convictions, and exonerations of three inmates because of new DNA test results.

Pfeifer, who first urged a Death Row review in a Dispatch story in May, remains the strongest advocate for a review.  His six colleagues on the court, plus Strickland and Attorney General Richard Cordray, have no interest in a study commission, much less a moratorium.  "This isn't about me or anything I might do," Pfeifer said, "although I might have to revisit that if the new governor says, 'I don't want any part of it.'"

Pfeifer was one of three Republican state senators who resurrected Ohio's death-penalty law in 1981 after the old law had been declared unconstitutional.  Pfeifer said he is not suggesting that any of the 160 men and one woman on Death Row are innocent or should be set free, only "whether or not death is the appropriate penalty."

Petro supports the death penalty but favors forming an independent task force to examine Death Row cases and halting executions while that review is being conducted. "We should show restraint, caution and diligence with these cases," Petro said. "DNA has opened a lot of people's eyes with what it can do. When you are talking about death, you can't afford to make even one mistake."

Two former state prison directors, Reginald A. Wilkinson and Terry Collins, who witnessed 34 of 39 executions since 1999, agree that the Death Row cases should be reviewed to see if they are the "worst of the worst," the standard set down when Ohio resumed capital punishment 11 years ago.

Wilkinson, director from 1991 to 2006, takes it a step further.  "I'm of the opinion that we should eliminate capital punishment," he said. "Having been involved with justice agencies around the world, it's been somewhat embarrassing, quite frankly, that nations just as so-called civilized as ours think we're barbaric because we still have capital punishment."

But Strickland doesn't support an additional sweeping review.  "I would caution against setting up sort of an extra-judicial process to replace what is a very understood and rigorous approach to these matters," he told The Dispatch.  "I've got an obligation to carry out the law," the Democratic governor said. "I try to do that extremely carefully. Any death-penalty cases we've dealt with since I've become governor have been given much scrutiny and analysis."

The strongest voices against a fresh look at the death penalty are Attorney General Richard Cordray; former congressman and current Republican candidate for governor John Kasich; former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, the GOP candidate for attorney general; Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien; and John Murphy, head of the Ohio Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

"I'm confident so far, we haven't had any miscarriages of justice on my watch," Cordray said. "I haven't seen the justification for a moratorium here in Ohio."

Some recent related posts:

• Potent(?) pace of executions in Ohio starting to produce pushback
• Might Ohio keep pace with Texas in the number of executions in 2010?
• The latest data on the shrinking death row in Ohio
• Ohio succeeds again with one-drug execution protocol
• "Ohio inmate to get 1-drug, slower, execution"
• Reports on Ohio's success with one-drug lethal injection protocol
• A few early questions following Ohio's successful one-drug lethal injection execution
• "A new Texas? Ohio's death penalty examined"
• Ohio — aka the Texas of the north — setting busy execution schedule