Strickland to issue clemency decisions only upon request

COLUMBUS (AP) -- Gov. Ted Strickland will not issue clemency decisions in cases where condemned inmates don't request that their lives be spared, his spokesman said.
Strickland's test case is convicted killer James J. Filiaggi, 41, who did not seek a reprieve for his execution scheduled for Tuesday. Filiaggi has given up trying to appeal his case in court, speeding up his execution date.
The Ohio Parole Board in February unanimously recommended against clemency, and the Democratic governor will not issue an opinion, spokesman Keith Dailey said Wednesday. Filiaggi's execution would be the first time since the state resumed executions in 1999 that a governor has not weighed in on a scheduled execution. Former Gov. Bob Taft always issued clemency decisions, even when inmates did not request mercy.
Filiaggi, 41, is scheduled to die by injection for gunning down his ex-wife, Lisa Huff Filiaggi, 13 years ago in Lorain.
Filiaggi would be the first person put to death in Ohio since Strickland took office.
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