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Updated 06.10.08
Judge Rules Ohio's Method of
Execution Violates Due Process
A judge has agreed with the ACLU of Ohio that the way Ohio carries out
executions is unconstitutional. In an opinion in the cases State of
Ohio v. Ruben Rivera and State of Ohio v. Ronald McCloud,
Judge James Burge of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas said that
the three-drug cocktail used by Ohio and every other state to perform
lethal injections carries "an unnecessary and arbitrary risk" of
effectively torturing the inmate to death. That risk violates the rights
of the accused to a quick and painless execution as mandated by Ohio
law. The state's unwillingness to provide the condemned men and women
what the law guarantees them violates their right to substantive due
process.
While the decision does not end the death penalty, it makes a strong
statement about the need to treat every person with simple human
dignity.
Read the Judgment
Read our 06.11.08
press release
On Apr 7 & 8, 2008 ACLU of Ohio Legal Director Jeff Gamso, with co counsel Kreig Brusnahan and Dan Wightman, presented evidence
to the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas in the cases of State v. Rivera and
State v. McCloud that Ohio's method of execution is unlawful.
Read Jeff Gamso's comments about the hearing
here.
Read Execution Protocols and Procedures
for selecting members of the execution team and carrying out executions
in Ohio. These documents were released by the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction in these cases.
Governor Strickland has commuted the death sentence of John Spirko to life without the possibility of parole.
While the ACLU of Ohio commends the Governor for preventing the execution and removing Mr. pirko from death row, it notes that there remain very grave doubts about Mr. Spirko's factual guilt. The ACLU regrets that the Governor's action will ensure that a quite possibly innocent man will spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit.
The ACLU opposes capital punishment under all circumstances because it violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, is administered arbitrarily and unfairly, and fails to deter crime or improve public safety. Irrefutable evidence exists which demonstrates that the process by which the death penalty is applied is unfair and discriminatory.
The quality of legal representation is a better predictor of whether or not someone will be sentenced to death than the facts of the crime. Almost all people on death row could not afford to hire a qualified attorney.
Whether a defendant is sentenced to death depends more on the prosecutor’s decision to pursue capital sentencing,
rather than the circumstances of the crime. The race of the victim is often an unspoken factor in capital sentencing decisions.
What's Happening Nationally
There are more than 3,300 people on death rows around the nation.
At this writing, there have been 1,099 executions
in the United States in the current era of the death penalty. Up to
date totals are kept by the
Death Penalty
Information Center.
In September 2007, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear
Baze v. Rees, a case challenging the
constitutionality of lethal injection procedures used in Kentucky.
Similar procedures are used in 34 other states. As a direct
consequence, there have been no executions since the end of September
and there will almost surely not be any until after the Court decides
Baze, probably at the end of June.
In December 2007, New Jersey became the first state in over 40 years to
abolish the death penalty through legislative action.
What's Happening in Ohio
From 1887 through 2007, Ohio executed 369 people. The state has the
fifth largest death row in the country, and in the modern era of
executions has put 26 people to death -- the most of any state outside
the South. Most male death row inmates are housed at the Ohio State
Penitentiary in Youngstown. A number of others are housed at the
Mansfield Correctional Institution. Female death row inmates are housed
at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. Ohio executions take
place at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
As of November 9, 2007: There are a total of 187 inmates on death row
in Ohio: 185 men, 2 women (97 African American men; 80 Caucasian men; 4
Hispanic men; 2 Native Americans; 2 Arab Americans; 2 Caucasian females).
But not all of them are currently under sentence of death.
The number of inmates under sentence of death is considerably lower
because until a death row inmate's situation is fully resolved with
either release or imposition of exclusively non-death sentences, the
person is treated as remaining on death row.
Scheduled execution dates
Executions in Ohio, like executions in the rest of the country,
have been halted as a consequence of lethal injection litigation in the
United States Supreme Court. In addition to Baze v. Rees, the
Court has been asked to decide Cooey v. Strickland, a case
brought by Ohio death row inmates challenging Ohio's execution
procedures. Over 20 Ohio death row inmates have had their executions
stayed while it is determined what will happen in that case.
Ohio executions 2007
James Filiaggi, April 24, 2007
go»
Christopher Newton, May 24, 2007
On January 19, 2007, Governor Ted Strickland announced reprieves of three executions scheduled for January and February.
READ MORE»
On March 20, 2007, the execution of Kenneth Biros was stayed as part of
lethal injection case. READ MORE»
Urge Governor Ted Strickland to halt executions
go»
ACLU of Ohio Litigation
State v. Rivera and State v. McCloud
Ruben Rivera and Ronald McCloud are facing death penalty trials in the
Lorain County Court of Common Pleas. The ACLU of Ohio represents them in
their argument that Ohio's method of carrying out lethal injections is
unconstitutional because it is likely to result in inmates being, in
effect, tortured to death. This is the only litigation in the nation
addressing the question of whether a death sentence may be imposed when
the only mechanism for carrying it out is unconstitutional.
See top of page for Judge Burge's June 10, 2008 ruling.
Foust v. Houk
The ACLU of Ohio represents Kelly Foust as he challenges his death
sentence by application for a writ of habeas corpus. Foust was
represented at trial by lawyers so incompetent that it was as if he had
no counsel at all. The result is a conviction and death sentence which
are altogether unreliable. We simply cannot have confidence that, had he
been adequately represented, he would still have been found guilty and
sentenced to die.
Apanovich v. Wilkinson
The State of Ohio conducts the “intubation phase” of the lethal
injection process outside public view. The process of inserting the
catheter into the veins of the condemned, while graphic and sometime
gruesome, is a necessary part of the execution.
READ MORE»
Why the ACLU of Ohio supports the public
viewing of executions
READ MORE»
Resources
December 10, 2008 will mark the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
History of Capital Punishment in Ohio
Ohio
Death Penalty Information and News
Death Penalty
Information Center is a great resource on issues concerning the
death penalty nationwide.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty issues execution
alerts with information on how to take action against upcoming
executions.
Office of the Ohio
Public Defender, Death Penalty Division maintains a list of people
on Ohio’s death row, including the race of defendants and victims.
Read the American Bar Association's
Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report
League of Women Voters
Study on the Death Penalty
Jeff Gamso, ACLU of Ohio Legal Director,
The Reality of the Death Penalty.
In Spanish.
Capital Defense Handbook for Defendants and Their Families
Death Penalty Rap by ACLU of Ohio student
intern
Read death penalty press releases and news articles in our
News Center.
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