Ohio’s clemency process in spotlight

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s death penalty clemency process may be the focus of the next round of legal challenges against capital punishment.

That was the indication from public defenders and other groups that want the state to stop executing inmates.

Minutes after condemned Portage County murderer Mark Wiles breathed his last in the Death Chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, his legal counsel released a written statement to me and other reporters who witnessed the lethal injection, calling for scrutiny of the state parole board and the governor’s office action on the issue.

“We challenge the media to review the parole board’s collective decisions and find any consistent criteria that might assure the people of Ohio or the inmates themselves that we, as a society, are executing only the worst of the worst,” wrote Alan Rossman and Vicki Werneke, two of Wiles’ attorneys. “Surely the citizens of Ohio are entitled to at least that much accountability from their chief executive.”

Model prisoner

Wiles, they wrote, was deserving of clemency — a model prisoner and artist whose drawings were used to comfort terminally ill children, a “son, brother, uncle and friend to many” who was remorseful and accepted his punishment “with grace and dignity.”

“The clemency process is one facet of Ohio’s death penalty system that ought to be reviewed,” added Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, in a written statement. “Right now, the criterion for a favorable or unfavorable clemency recommendation appears to be a guessing game and, at best, a moving target.”

But Wiles did little to aid his own cause, walking out of an interview with the state parole board and sending a video apology directly to the parents of the Rootstown teen he brutally knifed to death — a move that was not looked upon favorably by the recipients, the county prosecutor or members of the parole board.

“I am asking for clemency because I have to,” he told the latter, according to the report the board issued recommending against a sentence reduction to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Then he left the room and didn’t return.

It’s doubtful state officials would have been swayed by what he had to say. In its decision, the parole board noted, “While Wiles does express remorse and admits to committing the offense, that remorse and acceptance of responsibility does not mitigate nor outweigh the brutal attack on a defenseless young man who was beaten and stabbed repeatedly in his own home. Wiles’ remorse, acceptance of responsibility and good institutional conduct do not equate to a substantial enough reason to recommend clemency.”

Postscript

Two other thoughts after watching Wiles die last week:

Though groups are outspoken in opposition to Ohio’s administration of the death penalty, few are showing up on execution days to show their support for Death Row inmates.

Reporters who were around in 1999 when the state restarted executions recount the droves of news media representatives and protesters who were on hand and the swell of public interest in the process.

On the day Wiles was executed, there were 32 chairs set up in the prison visitation room, with only four reporters on hand to fill them. And there were only a couple of people standing outside protesting the event.

All eyes will be on the federal district court judge who delayed two other executions scheduled earlier this year, to see whether state prison officials completed Wiles’ execution to the letter of their protocols.

Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Greg Mohr was confident that that was the case.

“I am absolutely confident in the entire staff, from Chillicothe that prepped Mr. Wiles to the staff here and to everyone involved. ... We are committed to compliance,” he said, adding later, “We have more documentation on this than anything in my 38 years that I’ve been in this business. ... I think it’s the most documented execution in the United States of America.”

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.