Lawyer to Ohio justice: Skip death-penalty cases

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A prosecutor in Cincinnati is calling on an Ohio Supreme Court justice who recently criticized the state’s death-penalty law to sit out decisions on all cases involving capital punishment.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters on Friday sent a letter to judges and prosecutors across the state questioning Justice Paul Pfeifer’s ability to be fair, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

“Justice Pfeifer’s continued participation in deciding death-penalty cases is inappropriate,” he wrote. “It gives rise to a credible inference that he cannot be fair to both sides.”

Pfeifer, a Republican, helped write Ohio’s death-penalty law as a state legislator in 1981 but recently has said it isn’t working. In December, he told a House committee the law should be scrapped.

He said he’ll continue to follow current state law, but that judges are permitted to suggest changes.

“I know the difference between advocating for a change in the law and applying the law as it exists,” he said.

Urging the House Criminal Justice Committee to approve a bill that would overturn the current law, Pfeifer on Dec. 14 said capital punishment was meant for the worst offenders but has been used more haphazardly over time.