OHIO'S DEATH ROW Parole board advises clemency denial

The killer shot a man in the head with a shotgun.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A divided Ohio Parole Board recommended Tuesday that Gov. Bob Taft deny clemency to a killer who was just over 18 when he committed his crimes, including shooting to death a man he was robbing.
Adremy Dennis, 28, is scheduled to be executed by injection Oct. 13. He was convicted of aggravated murder in 1994 in the death of Kurt Kyle, 29, of Akron.
Kyle was standing in his driveway talking to a friend when Dennis and Lavar Anderson, 17, approached to rob them. The friend turned over $15 and Kyle offered to go in his house and get his wallet, but Dennis pulled a shotgun and shot Kyle in the head. Anderson is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole until 2022.
The parole board recommended 5-3 that Taft deny clemency. The dissenting members believed that considering Dennis' age at the time he committed his crimes and the "lack of effective guidance" during most of his life, clemency should be considered, according to the board's report.
Sentencing guidelines
Under current sentencing guidelines, which the Legislature approved two years after Dennis' conviction, a jury can recommend life without parole.
"Absent that as an option at sentencing, the governor has it within his authority to consider the option at this time," the dissenters said.
The majority said no evidence of injustice or his age and upbringing warranted clemency.
Taft can allow the execution to proceed or reduce Dennis' sentence. He has commuted the sentence of one inmate since Ohio resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999. Dennis would be the 16th inmate to be executed during that period.
Taft to decide
Taft spokesman Orest Holubec said Taft, currently on a trade mission to Japan and Taiwan, would decide whether to grant clemency within two weeks.
Attorneys for the state and members of Kyle's family said the evidence against Dennis was overwhelming and that he has shown no remorse for his crimes.
Dennis' lawyers and family urged a clemency recommendation, citing Dennis' age and a troubled childhood. Dennis was 18 when he killed Kyle. Ohio prohibits the death penalty for defendants under age 18.
Dennis' aunts told the board that he was neglected by his parents from infancy, and the dissenting board members said the school system missed a chance to help Dennis when it failed to report chronic absences from kindergarten through middle school to child welfare authorities.