John Spirko needs help getting typewriter

[CCADP]

John Spirko, one of Ohio's longest serving Death Row inmates who has in the past months recieved 3 very serious execution dates and now after 23 years of proclaiming his innocence DNA is finally being tested to prove his innocence. John really needs some help to buy a new typrwriter.

John works on his case and legal work and also helps others out with their legal work so his typewriter is a neccesity. It costs about $200 for one.

All donations no matter how small are truly appreciated. I am sure people realise how important it is that John is able to continue the work he does from inside death row.

See more about John's case on www.johnspirko.com and also if you can help with some funds for this please contact [e-mail]

Thank you

John can also be reached by writing to : John Spirko A171 433, OSP, 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Rd, Youngstown, Ohio 44505 USA.

[Maggie]

DNA tests don't solve case of inmate requesting 6th reprieve
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - DNA tests failed to produce conclusive evidence in a 1982 murder in which Gov. Ted Strickland is considering a sixth reprieve for a death row inmate to allow more time for testing, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Among the items tested, blood on duct tape used to wrap the victim and hair samples both matched slain northwest Ohio postmistress Betty Jane Mottinger, The Columbus Dispatch said. The newspaper obtained the results through a public-records request to Attorney General Marc Dann's office.

At the request of John Spirko's attorneys, Dann asked Strickland on Friday to delay Spirko's scheduled execution for four months.

Spirko, scheduled to die April 17, would have his execution date pushed to August should Strickland grant the request.

That means almost two years would have passed since Spirko, who says he is innocent, received his first reprieve from then-Gov. Bob Taft in September 2005.

"In our effort towards developing all useful information for Spirko, as well as for the Gov.'s clemency decision, we continue to accommodate Spirko's ongoing requests for forensic testing," Heather Gosselin, head of Dann's death penalty division, said in a letter to Strickland's chief legal counsel.

Dann told The Dispatch was willing to give more time for testing because the case is "totally dependent on circumstantial evidence."

Spirko, 60, was convicted based on witness statements and his own comments to investigators.

No physical evidence ties him to the killing and charges against a co-defendant who linked him to the murder have been dropped.

Courts at all levels have previously upheld his conviction and death sentence.

In addition to the tape and hair samples, DNA tests were performed on cigarette butts collected in and around Mottinger's post office in Elgin, Mottinger's clothes and a cord and tarp also used to wrap the body. Spirko's boots, handkerchief, socks and underwear also were tested.

In a letter to Spirko's attorneys on Nov. 7, 2005, then-Attorney General Jim Petro predicted the DNA wouldn't prove the inmate's guilt or innocence.

Defense attorney Thomas Hill said tests confirmed "what we knew all along - that it wasn't going to be John Spirko's DNA."

"We certainly contend the entire body of evidence and the history of the case overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that Mr. Spirko is innocent and was wrongfully convicted," Hill said.


www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16843921.htm

[pumpkinpie]

DNA Testing Finds No Connection to Ohio Death Row Inmate-CLEMENCY GRANTED
UPDATE: Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio has granted clemency to John Spirko, reducing his death sentence to a sentence of life without possibility of parole. The governor cited "the lack of physical evidence linking him to the murder, as well as the slim residual doubt about his responsibility for the murder that arises from careful scrutiny of the case record" in his statement granting the commutation on Jan. 9. (Warrant of Commutation, Governor of Ohio, January 9, 2008). For a fuller description of the case, see below.

The Attorney General of Ohio had disclosed that two years of state-of-the-art DNA testing revealed no links connecting John Spirko, Jr., 61, to the 1982 kidnapping and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, an Ohio postmaster. Spirko’s defense attorneys urged Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to grant their client an executive pardon for the murder on the basis of Spirko's innocence.

Spirko has persistently maintained his innocence, stating that, on the day of the crime, he never left the Toledo area to travel 100 miles to Elgin, Ohio, where the murder took place. His sister corroborated his story.

Attorneys for the state of Ohio believed at first that Spirko's former cellmate, Delaney Gibson, had been an accomplice to the crime. Spirko had implicated Gibson when he fabricated a story for investigators, a story that ultimately led to his conviction. Gibson was never prosecuted, and Spirko has since admitted he made the story up in order to get a deal for an unrelated crime.

One of Spirko’s attorneys, Alvin Dunn, told The Toledo Blade, “[These DNA findings are] consistent with what he has maintained all along, that he had nothing to do with this crime. We believe that if anybody takes a careful look at this case he would find that John Spirko was wrongly convicted….The governor is in a position to do the right thing in the issue of justice and to protect the legitimacy of the criminal justice system.”
(“DNA test doesn't tie Spirko to crime scene,” by Jim Provance, The Toledo Blade, January 4, 2008). See also Innocence.

www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2587&scid=64

[pumpkinpie]

This still doesn't seem right to me. His innocence seems to have been proven, but instead of exonerating him, he gets LWOP. Strange that dna proved him innocent, yet he's still being punished.