Ohio lawmaker wants to to expand death penalty

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

An Ohio lawmaker wants to expand the state’s death-penalty law to cover some sex-related crimes in a proposal driven by the case of three women who escaped a Cleveland home after being held captive for a decade.

The proposal introduced Friday would allow for the death penalty in cases of rape, sexual battery and improper sexual contact with a minor if the suspect has a previous sex-crime conviction.

Rep. John Becker, a Republican from Clermont County near Cincinnati, said he wanted prosecutors to be able to seek the death penalty for repeat sexual offenders.

Becker said that he expects prosecutors would pursue the death penalty “in only the most-heinous crimes.”

The proposal is a direct result of the case of Ariel Castro, a Cleveland man who held three women captive in his home for a decade and repeatedly raped them.

Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape.

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They escaped May 6, when one of the women broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help.

Prosecutors considered seeking the death penalty against Castro after it was alleged that he forced one of the women to miscarry after she became pregnant. Castro accepted a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table.