Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Benner is scheduled to be executed in early February.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Prosecutors say they know of no reason Glenn L. Benner should be spared the death penalty.
"All of the victims in this case are innocent victims," Phil Bogdanoff, an assistant Summit County prosecutor, told the Ohio Parole Board.
The board held a clemency hearing Tuesday for Benner, 43, convicted of aggravated murder and other charges in the rapes and deaths of two women in Summit County in the mid-1980s.
Benner is scheduled to be executed for his crimes Feb. 7 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. The board is to make a recommendation on clemency for Benner to Gov. Bob Taft on Jan. 30.
"When you look at this case, you'll find the defendant is a serial rapist and serial killer," Bogdanoff told the board.
Conviction
Benner of Summit County was convicted of multiple charges including aggravated murder in the deaths of Cynthia Sedgwick in August 1985 near the Blossom Music Center in northeast Ohio and Trina Bowser in Akron in January 1986.
Investigators said Bowser's body was discovered in the trunk of a burning car.
Benner also was tried for other crimes including a reported abduction in Portage County.
He pleaded guilty in Portage County Common Pleas Court to an abduction charge for the attack on 19-year-old Randolph Township woman in August 1985.
Family members of the victims spoke emotionally of their departed loved ones. They also said Benner should die for his crimes.
"Glenn Benner murdered my sister," Rodney Bowser said.
"For 20 years, Trina has been waiting for justice."
In 1996, Sedgwick's father, James H. Sedgwick, wrote to parole authorities opposing any clemency for Benner.
"We feel the same now as then," Mr. Sedgwick said.
Benner and his lawyers have declined to seek clemency. Benner has said he doesn't believe the clemency process considers whether a person has changed behind bars. Benner's lawyer, Kathleen McGarry of New Mexico, made similar comments in a letter distributed to parole board members.
Governor will decide
Mark Rickel, a Taft spokesman, said the governor will study Benner's case and make a decision on his fate after the parole board forwards its report and recommendation.
The governor could reject clemency or commute the sentence to life in prison without parole, life in prison with eligibility for parole or to an outright release from prison, state officials say.
Benner is being held at the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown. Barring a reprieve, he is scheduled to be moved to the SOCF on Feb. 6, state prisons officials said.
Benner would be the 20th person in Ohio to be executed since Ohio resumed carrying out executions in 1999, prisons officials say. John R. Hicks of Hamilton County was the last inmate executed in Ohio on Nov. 29.