Proponent, opponent debate death penalty

It’s respect for the law, a prosecutor said.

YOUNGSTOWN — As with abortion, the death penalty has steadfast opponents and proponents.

The Vindicator asked Staughton Lynd, a well-known lawyer and civil rights activist, and veteran Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins to weigh in on the topic.

They said their comments would be in general terms, not specific to the arson/mass murder death penalty case in Mahoning County against 18-year-old Michael A. Davis.

Davis is accused in the Jan. 23 deaths of two women and four children. The death penalty applies because of the number of victims, four victims under the age of 13, and the deaths occurred during commission of a felony, the arson.

Watkins said the death penalty has been recognized throughout history as punishment for the worst of the worst.

The penalty is appropriate and constitutional and represents the moral compass of the people who elect representatives, he said. The law, he said, should be upheld and respected.

“In that light, it’s not Staughton Lynd or Dennis Watkins, it’s respect for the law,” Watkins said.

In Ohio, the death penalty requires that the crime committed be intentional, the prosecutor said. If you set fire to a hotel, it’s fair to state you know you will kill people, he said.

“Each case has to be evaluated,” Watkins said. “The jury decides if you intended to kill.”

Legislators decide what crimes make the defendant eligible for the death penalty but juries decide whether to impose it; it’s not an automatic thing, Watkins said.

He said the defense can present mitigating factors to the jury, such as age of the defendant and lack of criminal history.

Of the 10 Trumbull County inmates on death row, Watkins said he prosecuted eight of them.

Lynd said he has a “host of reasons” to oppose the death penalty, the first being an imperfect judicial process.

Lynd pointed to the recent release of 43-year-old Kenny Richey, who had been on death row in Ohio for 21 years. In January, Richey returned to Scotland, where he was reared.

Richey had been convicted in the 1986 arson death of a 2-year-old girl in Putnam County. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said prosecutors failed to offer evidence that Richey meant to kill the girl.

Watkins said he always wants a fair trial and the best defense possible so that when a jury says “guilty,” the law should be enforced. His remedy to prevent the wrong people from being convicted is to be effective where the case originates. He wants all the facts, the DNA, the scientific evidence.

“A case being reversed doesn’t mean the person is innocent,” the prosecutor said. “They don’t stop executions where the defendant was convicted conclusively.”

The justice system, by its nature, provides a sound review of cases through appeals, Watkins said. The system also provides commutation by the governor, he said.

Lynd and his wife, Alice, also a lawyer, work with prisoners at the Ohio State Penitentiary, most recently to try to allow contact visits. He and his wife are Quakers who believe people can change and be redeemed.

Lynd said he has gotten to know about the death row inmates’ cases and has genuine doubts about some of the convictions.

He said he wonders what the death penalty accomplishes. Studies show it doesn’t act as a deterrent, he said.

Texas, for example, executes more people than any other state but still has high homicide tolls, he said. States without the death penalty don’t have unusually high homicide tolls, he added.

Watkins said crime increased during the death penalty moratorium. He said, though, that there are a lot of variables when crime goes up.

Ohio revived the death penalty in 1981 but didn’t execute anyone until 1999.

Lynd said some proponents believe the death penalty brings closure to victims’ loved ones, but he’s come across family members willing to forgive.

“I’m in the trenches, I see the real devastation to families,” Watkins said. “Why should that person be around?”

Lynd asked, if purposeful murder is wrong why is the death penalty tolerated?