Clemency sought for killer

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A former state prisons director and a Cincinnati civil-rights attorney want Gov. John Kasich to spare the life of an Ohio man condemned to die for killing a fellow inmate in a fight.

Former Ohio prisons director Terry Collins and attorney Alphonse Gerhardstein signed a letter sent to Kasich on Sunday asking for clemency for Clarence Carter. The 49-year-old Carter is scheduled to die April 12 for killing inmate Johnny Allen in a Hamilton County jail annex in Cincinnati on Dec. 28, 1988, while awaiting sentencing for murder.

Collins and Gerhardstein wrote that Allen’s death resulted from a “jailhouse fight” with Carter, 0 reported Tuesday.

The Ohio Parole Board on March 21 unanimously recommended against clemency for Carter, saying the severity of the crime outweighed any arguments in favor of sparing him. Investigators said Carter punched, choked, kicked and stomped on Allen for about 30 minutes during the fight.

There is no evidence that Carter planned to kill Allen, and he does not deserve the death penalty, Collins and Gerhardstein wrote.