Strickland grants clemency in 78 cases

By Marc Kovac

No defendants from Mahoning or Trumbull counties got pardons or commutations.

COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland granted pardons or commuted prison sentences in nearly 80 cases Monday, working through about 300 requests for clemency.

The applications were submitted in 2005, ’06 and ’08, and the results included 68 pardons for past convictions and 10 sentence commutations.

Of the latter, only one individual, Willie Knighten Jr. from Toledo, will be walking out of prison immediately. The 37-year-old was convicted of murder in 1997 and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. The judge in that case, however, later wrote to the state parole board saying Knighten was convicted for a crime he likely did not commit.

Most of the others with sentence commutations will remain in prison, pending appearances before the state parole board.

The governor is granted authority in the Ohio Constitution to grant commutations (reductions of the legal punishments for crimes committed) and pardons (complete forgiveness for crimes committed, eliminating penalties and further legal consequences for those convicted). Those granted the latter are deemed “by law to have never committed the offense,” according to the governor’s office.

No one from the Youngstown area was granted a pardon or commutation, though the governor denied applications from a number of individuals from Mahoning and Trumbull counties, including:

URodney Douglass, convicted in 1994 of murder.

UScott Camuso, convicted in 1994 of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.

UFrank A. Lordi, convicted in 1999 of theft in office.

UMatthew Giannini, convicted in 1997 of attempted unauthorized use of property.

UHerman Hill, convicted in 1997 of theft in office and tampering with evidence.

UDonald Hall, convicted in 1992 of rape.

Strickland said he already is reviewing 177 clemency recommendations submitted to his office last year and 226 more submitted this year. He doesn’t expect to finalize decisions on those before the end of the year.

“This is a slow and laborious process,” he told Statehouse reporters Monday. “I take this very seriously. ... Any one of these cases can consume many, many, many hours. For those who think it’s simply a process of getting a piece of paper with a request for commutation and then we sit down and make a quick decision, it is not that way, nor should it be. We will deal with these commutations as time permits.”