Kasich urged to block upcoming execution
A coalition of clergy members, former correction officials, death row exonerees and crime victims urged Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday to stop Ohio’s first execution in 3 years.
The Rev. Carl Ruby, of Central Christian Church in Springfield, asked Kasich to “listen to his faith” and avoid “turning his back on Christ” by allowing the scheduled execution of Ronald Phillips next Wednesday. Ruby was among 200 faith leaders who sent an open letter to Kasich urging him to block the execution.
Also speaking out was James Brogan, a retired Montgomery County Appeals Court judge who led the Ohio Supreme Court Task Force on the Death Penalty.
Brogan said that executions should not proceed because virtually none of the task force’s 56 recommendations has been enacted after three years. “This lack of action is disconcerting and will enable the core problems we identified to continue and potentially lead to wrongful death penalty convictions.”
Rex Zent, a former prison warden, said at a Statehouse news conference that Ohio should not proceed partially because of the effect on employees with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction who must carry out executions.
“It’s not the state carrying it out,” he said. “It’s the men and women in corrections. It takes a huge toll on them.”
Opponents delivered a petition to Kasich’s office with about 30,000 signatures of capital punishment opponents.
Kasich, who makes frequent references to his Christian faith, had no comment on the requests for mercy, spokesman Jon Keeling said.
Phillips’ execution would end a 3 -year stoppage of Ohio’s death penalty because of court challenges and problems finding lethal-injection drugs. Phillips, 43, was convicted in the 1993 beating, rape and murder of 3-yearold Sheila Marie Evans, his girlfriend’s daughter, in Akron.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put executions back on track in Ohio late last month in an 8-6 decision, overturning an earlier 2-1 ruling by a 6th Circuit panel and one by a district court judge. The case has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ohio’s most recent execution was Jan. 16, 2014, when Dennis McGuire struggled against his restraints, gasped for air, choked and coughed for about 20 minutes before succumbing to the lethal drugs. The state now plans to use a combination of midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
Melinda Elkins Dawson, whose mother was killed in 1998 and her husband was initially wrongfully convicted of the crime, said executions in Ohio often amount to “political grandstanding” that do nothing to help victims. “When the killer of your loved one is on death row, you never rest,” she said. The murder is revisited every time there is a legal appeal or a new execution, she added.