Lawyers plead for condemned Ohio killer's life

COLUMBUS (AP) — Attorneys for a man sentenced to death in the 1995 robbery-slaying of a husband and wife in Hamilton in southeast Ohio are asking Gov. John Kasich for mercy.

The attorneys say 45-year-old Kenneth Smith grew up in a highly dysfunctional household with a violent, alcoholic father and a mother who had multiple affairs.

The Ohio Parole Board later today planned to hear arguments for clemency, which the state opposes.

The prisons system is making accommodations so Smith can make a final statement at his scheduled July 19 execution because he has had his larynx removed since he was incarcerated and uses an artificial voice box.

Smith’s attorneys argue in a separate case that a federal judge should not dismiss a long-running lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio lethal injections.