Following Ohio Parole Board's recommendation, Gov Kasich commutes another murderer's death sentence

As detailed in this Columbus Dispatch article, which is headlined "Kasich spares killer's life; Governor cites abusive childhood in decision to alter death sentence," the Governor of the state of Ohio is making modern history through regular use of his clemency powers to spare the lives of condemned murderers. Here are the details of the latest notable act of clemency by Republican Governor John Kasich:

Convicted killer Joseph Murphy has a list of people to thank for sparing his life — Gov. John Kasich, the Ohio Parole Board, his public-defender attorneys. But perhaps more than anyone else, Murphy may owe his life to Ohio Supreme Court Judge Thomas J. Moyer, whose words played a pivotal role — even though he died 17 months ago.

Yesterday, Kasich commuted Murphy’s death sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Murphy, 46, was to have been executed on Oct. 18 for the 1987 murder of Ruth Predmore, a 72-year-old widow from Marion, Ohio. The governor concurred with an 8-0 parole-board recommendation that Murphy should not be executed, largely because of his abused, neglected childhood growing up in Ohio and West Virginia.

Moyer, a Republican, was the longest-serving state chief justice in the U.S. at the time of his death on April 2, 2010. He was a conservative jurist not easily swayed to support inmate arguments in death-penalty cases, his colleague, former Justice Herbert Brown, recalled at a clemency hearing two weeks ago.

That made Moyer’s dissent even more striking in a 4-3 Ohio Supreme Court decision in 1992 supporting Murphy’s death sentence. “In all of the death penalty cases I have reviewed, I know of no other case in which the defendant, clearly guilty of the crime as the defendant is here, was as destined for disaster as was Joseph Murphy as a direct result of the conditions to which he was exposed by his family,” Moyer wrote in opposing death for Murphy.

Murphy’s attorneys highlighted the late chief justice’s comments in their presentation to the parole board; the board echoed the quote in its favorable recommendation to the governor; and Kasich repeated Moyer’s words in his clemency decision.

Calling Predmore’s murder “heinous and disturbing,” Kasich said that despite a traumatic childhood, Murphy deserves severe punishment. But the governor said he agreed that considering Murphy’s “brutally abusive upbringing and the relatively young age at which he committed this terrible crime, the death penalty is not appropriate in this case.  Thus, I have commuted his sentence to life in prison with no chance for parole. I pray for peace for all who have been impacted by this crime.”...

It was the second time this year that Kasich commuted a killer’s death sentence. In June, he granted clemency to Shawn Hawkins, 42, of Cincinnati, because the details of his role in a drug-related double slaying were “frustratingly unclear.”  Like Murphy, Hawkins’ sentence was commuted to life without parole.

Not only has Governor Kasich recently commuted two death sentences, he also granted clemency earlier this month to Kelley Williams-Bolar, the Akron mom who fraudulently enrolled her kids in a different school district (basics here).  Cheers to Governor Kasich and his staff for understanding the importance and potency of his clemency authority, and jeers to the media and the usual criminal justice pundits if they fail to recognize and laud Ohio's Governor for his now already impressive clemency record.

I am not sure whether to be incredibly proud or deeply troubled that Ohio's Governor Kasich has now in the last three months made more profound and effective use of his state clemency authority in just the last three months than US President Barack Obama has in over the last three years.  I am sure that this latest capital commutation, and the broader story of Governors making good use of clemency powers, merits a lot more attention than it is likely to receive from either the media of the punditry.

Recent related posts:

• Ohio board recommends clemency for murderer based on his "deprived history"
• Ohio Governor Kasich grants clemency to help mom who fraudulently registered school kids
• "Kasich commutes convicted killer's sentence to life without parole"