Ohio prosecutor: Give victims death-sentence voice

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Relatives of murder victims should be allowed to tell juries weighing death sentences how the crimes affected them and split-jury decisions would no longer automatically rule out death sentences under proposals submitted to a state death penalty task force by a veteran prosecutor.

Ohio juries and judges also should be allowed to consider a multitude of factors about a homicide carrying the possibility of a death sentence, not just specific elements laid out in state law, Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said.

“The victim’s family many times don’t understand why they can’t explain the impact this has had to their family,” Deters said Thursday, discussing a letter he sent to fellow members of the task force earlier this week.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor convened the task force while making it clear it won’t debate whether the state should have capital punishment.

Ohio law now requires juries to weigh specific aggravating factors — whether the victim was a child or a police officer or was killed during a robbery — against factors in the offender’s favor, such as a poor childhood or mental illness.

Deters wants more factors to be considered, such as statements from family members, a defendant’s criminal record and any evidence of posing a future danger. He also says a jury shouldn’t have to vote unanimously for a death sentence to prevent “rogue jurors” from thwarting the majority’s wishes.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled victim impact statements constitutional, and they are used in federal death penalty cases.

Any changes to Ohio’s law, such as family statements, should be based on fact and whether it will make the law more fair, said public defender Tim Young, also a member of the task force.

“Does it cross that line into enflaming the passions and prejudice?” he said. “Are we trying the case for the facts or ending up with emotions driving our decisions?”

The task force includes prosecutors who have long supported the death penalty, along with defense attorneys who have fought its imposition.

O’Connor, a Republican and a former prosecutor, has said the committee’s goal is to produce a fair, impartial and balanced analysis of the state’s 30-year-old law.