Catholic bishops calling for an end to death penalty in Ohio

As detailed in this Columbus Dispatch article, "Ohio's Catholic bishops yesterday joined the chorus of those urging state leaders to abolish the death penalty, and a Franklin County legislator said he will introduce a bill proposing to repeal the state's 30-year-old capital-punishment law." Here is more:

The call from church leaders comes on the heels of anti-death-penalty comments by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, a Republican who helped write the state's original death-penalty law, and Terry Collins, a former state prisons director who witnessed 33 executions.

"Just punishment can occur without resorting to the death penalty," said yesterday's statement signed by 10 Catholic church leaders, including Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati, who is chairman of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, and Columbus Bishop Frederick F. Campbell.  "Our Church teachings consider the death penalty to be wrong in almost all cases.  Every human being is a child of God, no matter what sins the person commits."...

Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, said he hopes to spark a civil dialogue about capital punishment when he introduces a bill in the next week or two to abolish the death penalty.  "What stimulated it for me was the recent numbers that showed Ohio was second only to Texas in the number of executions," he said.

Ohio executed eight people last year, the most since 1949, and has put to death 41 since resuming executions in 1999.  Ohio was the only state to execute more people in 2010 than the previous year.

Celeste said he hopes the bill becomes part of the upcoming budget debate, in which lawmakers will be looking for ways to fill an estimated $8 billion shortfall.  Data have shown that incarcerating someone for life is considerably less expensive because of the many appeals tied to death-penalty cases.  Collins wrote in a recent column published in The Dispatch that the death penalty's cost to counties and the state "is not a fiscally responsible policy for Ohio."...

Ohio's next scheduled execution, of triple-murderer Frank Spisak of Cuyahoga County, is Feb. 17.  Another execution is set for March, and prosecutors around the state have asked the state Supreme Court to set dates for 13 more convicted killers.

Gov. John Kasich and Attorney General Mike DeWine were among the state senators who voted for Ohio's death-penalty bill in 1981, and they still back it.  House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, supports the death penalty, a spokesman said.