43
’91 killer’s fate remains in hands of governor
By MARC KOVAC
COLUMBUS
Gov. Ted Strickland has not made a final decision on whether to grant clemency to a man sentenced to be executed Tuesday for killing two people at his former workplace in Warren.
Roderick Davie did not participate in the clemency process and offered no arguments in support of a sentence commutation. And the Ohio Parole Board unanimously recommended the death sentence be carried out.
“I’ve got the materials, I’m going over them, [but] no final decision’s been made,” Strickland told Statehouse reporters Friday morning.
“I’m not aware at this point of any extraneous circumstances that are involved in that matter, but I’ve not made a final decision,” he added.
Davie was convicted of the 1991 murders of John Ira Coleman and Tracey Jefferys and the attempted murder of William Everett two months after being fired from the Veterinary Companies of America in Warren.
According to documents, Davie shot Coleman and Everett multiple times and beat Jefferys to death with a folding chair.
Davie is scheduled to be transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville early Monday in advance of his scheduled execution Tuesday.
He will be offered a special evening meal of his own choosing and will have the opportunity to visit with friends and family Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
The lethal injection is scheduled for 10 a.m., barring any unanticipated legal action.
Everett and four family members of the two murder victims are among the potential witnesses to the execution, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
No one has signed on to witness on Davie’s behalf.