Parole board denies clemency for Sidney Cornwell

COLUMBUS

The state parole board has recommended against clemency for a Death Row inmate scheduled to be executed next month for the gang-related shooting of a Youngstown toddler.

The board forwarded the 7-1 decision against Sidney Cornwell to Gov. Ted Strickland Thursday morning. Strickland will have final say over whether to allow the Nov. 16 lethal injection or commute Cornwell’s sentence to life in prison.

Board Chairwoman Cynthia Mausser offered the lone dissent in favor of clemency, noting that a diagnoses of a genetic disorder confirmed in Cornwell earlier this year may have affected whether the death sentence was issued.

“I cannot conclude that it would have made no difference to the outcome of the penalty phase, as it seems reasonably probable that a juror may have viewed Cornwell and the other mitigation evidence presented in a more positive light,” Mausser wrote. “This evidence is significant enough to question the reliability of the outcome of the penalty phase and conclude that the exercise of executive clemency is warranted.”

Cornwell was convicted of killing 3-year-old Jessica Ballew in an early-morning shooting in June 1996.

According to court documents, he and others drove up to an apartment on Oak Park Lane with the intention of shooting a rival, in retaliation for an earlier incident between neighborhood gangs.

After learning that the intended victim was not at the residence, Cornwell opened fire, killing Ballew and injuring three adults.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com