Gov. Kasich postpones execution of man until late next year

COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich has postponed until late next year the execution of a man who brutally murdered and partially dismembered an Akron women 14 years ago.

Kasich issued the temporary reprieve for Brett Hartman to give the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction more time to change its execution procedures after a federal judge ruled the state was lax in following its own lethal injection policies.

Hartman was convicted of killing 46-year-old Winda Snipes, a woman he had met in an Akron bar. According to documents, he slit her throat, stabbed her 38 times and cut off her hands.

He has denied being involved in the murder.

But the state parole board this week, in a unanimous decision, recommended that Kasich deny clemency in the case.

Hartman was to make the trip to the Death House at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville on Aug. 16. He's now scheduled for execution Nov. 13, 2012.