Spirko execution put off to July 19 for DNA tests

On Monday, Gov. Bob Taft postponed Spirko's Jan. 19 execution date for six months. Taft said in a statement that he agrees with Attorney General Jim Petro that "additional investigation and analysis of the evidence in the
kidnapping and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger are warranted."

Petro asked for a 180-day reprieve last week, saying that complex DNA
testing of the evidence would likely take months to complete.

The parade of executive reprieves in this complicated case began in early
September, after The Plain Dealer reported that a top Petro assistant made several misstatements about the evidence during Spirko's marathon clemency hearing before the Ohio Parole Board in late August.

Petro said he stood by his staff members, but he offered to have them
appear before the board again. On Sept. 8, Taft granted the board's
request for a reprieve, delaying Spirko's execution from Sept. 20 to Nov.
15.

Then came an even longer parole-board hearing on Oct. 12, followed by a 6 to 3 vote against clemency - the same margin as before - but with the
minority issuing a spirited dissent.

In a case without physical evidence pointing to Spirko, and with lingering
questions about the quality of the prosecution and the integrity of the
lead investigator, the minority said there was too much doubt on too many points to allow Spirko to be executed.

The dissenters also chastised officials for never following up on a lead
from former house painter John Willier, who had implicated his former boss in the Mottinger case in a 1997 interview with law enforcement.

A week after the hearing, The Plain Dealer found Willier in a small town
in Tennessee.

He agreed to - and later passed - a polygraph test regarding his 1997
statement, prompting Spirko's lawyers to demand DNA testing on the
paint-covered shroud in which Mottinger's body was found.

On Nov. 7, a week before Spirko was scheduled to die, Petro asked for -
and Taft granted - a 60-day reprieve so that state technicians could do
DNA testing on the shroud and other evidence in the case. Last week, Petro and his staff reported that several hairs had been found on the duct tape used to wrap the shroud around Mottinger's body, but that an outside lab must be hired to test it.

The attorney general said all tests should be completed in 6 months.

(source: Plain Dealer)

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3RD REPRIEVE ? Spirko's execution pushed back 6 months

The execution date for John G. Spirko Jr. was moved to July to allow for
DNA testing in the 1982 murder of a postmistress.

John G. Spirko Jr. will see another spring and summer before DNA testing
that may decide his fate is complete.

Gov. Bob Taft yesterday approved a 6-month reprieve for Spirko, who was scheduled to be executed Jan. 19 for the 1982 abduction and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, the postmistress in Elgin in northwestern Ohio.

It was the third consecutive reprieve for Spirko, 59, who also had been
scheduled for execution on Sept. 19 and Nov. 19. The new dte is July 19.
In a statement, Taft said he agreed with Attorney General Jim Petro's
opinion that "additional investigation and analysis of the evidence" are
needed.

Petro asked Taft last week to postpone Spirko's execution to allow time
for additional DNA testing, specifically on hairs found on duct tape used
to wrap Mottinger's body in a tarp. It was found in a farm field in
northwestern Ohio about 3 weeks after she disappeared.

The testing Petro ordered involves mitochondrial DNA, a new type of
testing that focuses on maternally inherited DNA. Since the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation does not do that type of
testing, the attorney general is contracting with a private lab.

In addition, Petro's office said it might take time to get DNA samples for
comparison with other possible suspects in the case.

Spirko, his attorneys and supporters have mounted a high pressure campaign protesting his innocence. He was convicted largely based on information about the crime that prosecutors said only the killer could have known.

All state and federal courts have affirmed his guilt and death sentence.
The Ohio Parole Board twice voted 6-3 against clemency for Spirko.

(source: Columbus Dispatch)

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