Clemency commended for killer from Toledo
A condemned killer set for execution next month should be spared following questions raised about discrepancies in the case and the fairness of the trial, the Ohio Parole Board ruled Friday.
The board recommended 6-4 in favor of clemency for death row inmate William Montgomery, who is scheduled to die April 11 for the 1986 shooting of Debra Ogle during a robbery in the Toledo area. Republican Gov. John Kasich has the final say. The board concluded that commutation of Montgomery’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole is warranted.
The majority recommending clemency noted that two jurors said after the trial that they had difficulty understanding the law, and one juror was permitted to remain on the jury despite exhibiting “troubling behavior and verbalizations” that raised questions over fitness.
The majority also noted concern about a police report in which witnesses said they saw Ogle alive four days after Montgomery is alleged to have killed her was never presented to the defense.
A federal judge and a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Montgomery deserved a new trial based in part on the missing report. But the full 6th Circuit rejected that argument.
The witnesses later said they mistook Ogle’s sister for the missing woman.”
The failure to disclose that report coupled with the issues described above relative to Montgomery’s jurors raise a substantial question as to whether Montgomery’s death sentence was imposed through the kind of just and credible process that a punishment of this magnitude requires,” the recommendation stated.
The minority voting against clemency found nothing that altered the jury’s conclusion that “Montgomery caused the deaths of two individuals. “Montgomery’s execution is scheduled at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville on the 25th anniversary of the prison riot in Lucasville that killed a guard and nine inmates
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said it’s aware of the coincidence and always has contingency plans for executions.