Post by CCADP on Aug 13, 2005 20:48:01 GMT -5
Editorial's errors on Spirko need corrected----Facts in death row inmate's
case prove his guilt
Re the Aug. 5 editorial ("Petro wrong to push execution") about death row
inmate John Spirko:
Contrary to that editorial, there has been no rush to judgment in this
case.
In all death penalty cases, I believe there should be "super" due process
and am satisfied that Spirko's case has received sufficient judicial
review to ensure that his conviction and sentence are fair.
During the last 21 years, this case has been reviewed by the Ohio
appellate courts, the U.S. District Court in Toledo and the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals, and all made the same conclusion - that Spirko was
justly convicted and sentenced.
Despite Spirko's claims, the trial record reveals that his trial lawyers
were fully aware of the Delaney Gibson facts. His trial attorneys were
provided the names and addresses of witnesses who claimed Gibson was in
North Carolina the day before Betty Jane Mottinger's brutal murder and
also were told that these witnesses claimed to have pictures of Gibson
taken that weekend.
Spirko had 3 investigators who worked with his attorneys at trial. It is
likely they did not present any additional information about Delaney
Gibson at trial because Spirko himself testified under oath that Gibson
was in Ohio and that Gibson, his former cellmate and convicted murderer,
killed Mottinger.
Was he lying then or is he lying now?
The fact is Spirko never repudiated that testimony.
But now, Spirko chooses to highlight the sole investigator who thinks
Delaney Gibson may not have been involved, although he has no evidence to
support this claim. This person was not the lead investigator, as Spirko
claims.
There was a task force assembled of more than 40 investigators. This
investigator was one of those 40. In fact, he didn't even interview the
witnesses who identified Spirko and Gibson at the crime scene.
Most important, even though Spirko has raised nothing new in 21 years, my
office agreed to allow Spirko's lawyers to conduct discovery and depose
witnesses. For nearly eight weeks this year, from May 6 to June 30, I
provided staff to conduct discovery and depose witnesses, traveling from
Angola, Ind., to Tampa, Fla., deposing 9 witnesses - all chosen by
Spirko's attorneys.
Suspiciously absent from Spirko's deposition request was Delaney Gibson.
Despite a total of 47 hours of depositions and 1,697 pages of sworn
testimony, the result was that not a single witness believed that Spirko
was innocent. No additional evidence that would preclude Gibson's
participation was uncovered.
John Spirko is not innocent. His most recent pleading before U.S. District
Judge James R. Carr is not a claim of innocence. Instead, Spirko is just
now highlighting the opinion of this one investigator as warranting a stay
of his execution.
Spirko wants to cherry-pick part of an investigator's opinion - that
Delaney Gibson may not have been his co-conspirator in the abduction and
murder. But he hides from the foundation of this investigator's opinion:
that John Spirko, along with an accomplice, committed the abduction and
murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, and that Spirko may not have done this
with his former cell mate and convicted murderer Delaney Gibson.
The majority of the judges in the federal court - just like every one of
Spirko's new witnesses - are firmly convinced of his guilt.
Spirko, in his continuing pattern of self-serving deception, has just told
the Ohio Parole Board that he was also wrongly convicted for the July 3,
1969, murder of 73-year-old Myra Ashcroft of Kentucky - a crime to which
he confessed and was convicted.
The facts of this case are important and should be correctly reported and
accurately reflected in any editorials and stories. Again, I strongly
believe in "super" due process and that every avenue of appeal should
appropriately be explored in capital cases.
However, the Dayton Daily News editorial made factual errors that should
be corrected.
(source: Editorial; Jim Petro is Ohio attorney general; Dayton Daily News)
case prove his guilt
Re the Aug. 5 editorial ("Petro wrong to push execution") about death row
inmate John Spirko:
Contrary to that editorial, there has been no rush to judgment in this
case.
In all death penalty cases, I believe there should be "super" due process
and am satisfied that Spirko's case has received sufficient judicial
review to ensure that his conviction and sentence are fair.
During the last 21 years, this case has been reviewed by the Ohio
appellate courts, the U.S. District Court in Toledo and the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals, and all made the same conclusion - that Spirko was
justly convicted and sentenced.
Despite Spirko's claims, the trial record reveals that his trial lawyers
were fully aware of the Delaney Gibson facts. His trial attorneys were
provided the names and addresses of witnesses who claimed Gibson was in
North Carolina the day before Betty Jane Mottinger's brutal murder and
also were told that these witnesses claimed to have pictures of Gibson
taken that weekend.
Spirko had 3 investigators who worked with his attorneys at trial. It is
likely they did not present any additional information about Delaney
Gibson at trial because Spirko himself testified under oath that Gibson
was in Ohio and that Gibson, his former cellmate and convicted murderer,
killed Mottinger.
Was he lying then or is he lying now?
The fact is Spirko never repudiated that testimony.
But now, Spirko chooses to highlight the sole investigator who thinks
Delaney Gibson may not have been involved, although he has no evidence to
support this claim. This person was not the lead investigator, as Spirko
claims.
There was a task force assembled of more than 40 investigators. This
investigator was one of those 40. In fact, he didn't even interview the
witnesses who identified Spirko and Gibson at the crime scene.
Most important, even though Spirko has raised nothing new in 21 years, my
office agreed to allow Spirko's lawyers to conduct discovery and depose
witnesses. For nearly eight weeks this year, from May 6 to June 30, I
provided staff to conduct discovery and depose witnesses, traveling from
Angola, Ind., to Tampa, Fla., deposing 9 witnesses - all chosen by
Spirko's attorneys.
Suspiciously absent from Spirko's deposition request was Delaney Gibson.
Despite a total of 47 hours of depositions and 1,697 pages of sworn
testimony, the result was that not a single witness believed that Spirko
was innocent. No additional evidence that would preclude Gibson's
participation was uncovered.
John Spirko is not innocent. His most recent pleading before U.S. District
Judge James R. Carr is not a claim of innocence. Instead, Spirko is just
now highlighting the opinion of this one investigator as warranting a stay
of his execution.
Spirko wants to cherry-pick part of an investigator's opinion - that
Delaney Gibson may not have been his co-conspirator in the abduction and
murder. But he hides from the foundation of this investigator's opinion:
that John Spirko, along with an accomplice, committed the abduction and
murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, and that Spirko may not have done this
with his former cell mate and convicted murderer Delaney Gibson.
The majority of the judges in the federal court - just like every one of
Spirko's new witnesses - are firmly convinced of his guilt.
Spirko, in his continuing pattern of self-serving deception, has just told
the Ohio Parole Board that he was also wrongly convicted for the July 3,
1969, murder of 73-year-old Myra Ashcroft of Kentucky - a crime to which
he confessed and was convicted.
The facts of this case are important and should be correctly reported and
accurately reflected in any editorials and stories. Again, I strongly
believe in "super" due process and that every avenue of appeal should
appropriately be explored in capital cases.
However, the Dayton Daily News editorial made factual errors that should
be corrected.
(source: Editorial; Jim Petro is Ohio attorney general; Dayton Daily News)