Death row

In May, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected Spirko's latest appeal. He has asked the full court of 12 judges to consider his case but such requests rarely are granted. His next appeal would be to the U.S. Supreme Court which has discretion on whether to take the case and rarely hears a death penalty case.

It's quite possible Spirko could be executed by lethal injection sometime early next year.

Spirko is just one of six men sitting on Ohio's death row from the region. Allen County has three: Richard Joseph, Jeronique Cunningham and Cleveland Jackson. Putnam County has the most well-known death row inmate in the state, and maybe the world, in Scottish-born Kenneth Richey. Shelby County has Kevin Yarbrough.

The Lima News interviewed Cunningham and Jackson on death row and had a telephone interview with Richey.

Spirko, Joseph and Yarbrough declined several requests for interviews with The Lima News.

Richey, 40, has been on death row the second longest among the six. He's been there since 1987 and is among 63 men who have 15 years or more on the row. Richey is on death row for the 1986 murder of 2-year-old Cynthia Collins. Richey was convicted of setting a fire that killed Collins in a Columbus Grove apartment complex.

"This is a hellhole," Richey said.

There have been days when, Richey said, he'd lost all hope of being freed and had considered waiving his appeals.

"Somehow I've always found the strength to carry on. The fact I'm in here for something I didn't do gives me the strength," he said.

As bad as death row is, Jackson said he hasn't considered waiving his appeals and laughs at those who do.

"Them fools," said Jackson, who is 26. "You ain't going to see me telling them to come on and kill me."

Cunningham said he is active in his appeal with the goal being to remove himself from death row. He would agree to spend the rest of his life in prison if the offer was made, he said.

"My focus is to get off death row," he said.

Richey is closing in on the end of his appeals. He is awaiting a ruling by the 6th Circuit and if he loses would have a last chance with the U.S. Supreme Court.

On average, an inmate spends 19 years on Ohio's death row before being executed, not counting the three who have waived their appeals.

Death row in nation

The federal government and 38 states have capital punishment, and as of 2002, there were 3,557 inmates awaiting execution in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ohio has 206 inmates on death row, including one woman.

Since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, the state has executed 14 inmates. Texas uses the death penalty the most of any state, having executed 33 people in 2002, compared to the three executions in Ohio that year, according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Oklahoma was second with seven followed by Missouri with six executions, four each in Georgia and Virginia, and three each in Florida and Ohio, according to justice department statistics for 2002.

Texas has executed 12 inmates this year and 24 last year. Ohio has executed six inmates this year and three last year. Oklahoma has executed six inmates this year and executed 14 last year. Missouri has not executed an inmate so far this year and executed two last year, according to statistics from each state's prison system.

Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law Professor Victor Streib, a national expert on the death penalty, said Ohio is executing more inmates because more inmates are approaching the end of their appeals.

Ohio has gotten "the bugs out" of a law that caused delays early on or commuted sentences to life. Today, the law and process essentially have been perfected, he said.

"In the last few years, Ohio has gone from a deep slumber to being one of the top few states in executions," Streib said.

There is no one reason why Ohio is climbing that ladder, he said, but perhaps the primary reason he sees that can't be statistically proven is the push by former Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery, whom he said was probably the country's most outspoken attorney general for the death penalty.

Montgomery said she accepts credit for pushing the death penalty process along not because she wanted to see people die, but because it was the No. 1 issue people asked about when she first ran for attorney general in 1994.

"This was all about following the law," she said.

Once in office, Montgomery created a capital crimes division to track death penalty cases and serve as a resource to county prosecutors, some of whom might not have handled a death case. The division also helped to ensure the law was followed and would challenge efforts by the Ohio Pubic Defender's Office to stall the process, she said.

"The public defender's office had perfected dozens and dozens of motions and delay tactics," she said.

The public defender took advantage of the fact there was no organized effort to help prosecutors manage their death-penalty cases. That was complicated by the fact that counties sometimes changed prosecutors as cases played out in appeals courts, she said.

Early on, the capital crimes division found cases that had sat dormant for years without a ruling. She also recalls a case where a judge forgot to rule on a motion and the file had been sent to a warehouse.

"There were cases pending in some courts around the state that the courts didn't know were pending and the prosecutors didn't know were pending," she said.

Montgomery also pushed to remove the first layer of appeals and send cases directly to the Ohio Supreme Court on the first appeal.

Her hard work earned her the nickname "Bloody Betty" which she regrets having but knows it may always follow her.

"I never expected that to be a legacy. I was just trying to do my job. Yes, it personally bothers me but that's my job," she said.

Still, Ohio is nowhere close to Texas when it comes to executions. That state streamlines death sentences and executes inmates in an average of six to seven years, about a third of the time it takes Ohio, Streib said.

Streib, who has spent years studying death penalty cases and statistics in the United States, said there is no specific reason why Ohio averages 19 years to execute an inmate. He points to judges reluctant about death penalty law who sit on cases for years as one factor.

But in all fairness to judges, Streib said they want to be right especially when it involves a human life. There are, after all, numerous cases where innocent people have been executed but it wasn't proven until after the fact, he said.

Longtime Allen County Prosecutor David Bowers, who has put three men on death row during his 28 years in office, said it takes too many years to carry out the sentence.

"The death penalty in Ohio as it is now constituted is a joke, plain and simple. If it's going to be any deterrent whatsoever you can't wait 15 to 20 years to execute someone," Bowers said.

Bowers agrees wholeheartedly that death row inmates should have a chance to appeal their sentence. It's one of the fundamental rights the law provides but often means cases can stall in appeals courts.

The death penalty in Ohio is widely supported and citizens believe it deters crime but in reality the death penalty has never been proven to reduce the murder rate, Streib said.

Ohioans support the death penalty but not like the southern states such as Texas, Mississippi, Georgia or Alabama, Streib said.

"I don't see us becoming a leading death penalty state in the long run in essence because we never have been," he said.

Montgomery also doesn't see Ohio becoming a leader in that category. Ohio is becoming a leader in the country because the state has a large number of older cases that sat dormant for so long, she said.

"After you see this collection of people who have been on death row for decades - get the death penalty, you will see the number go down," Montgomery said.

In the South, the death penalty is pursued more aggressively and more widely supported. In the northern Midwest, the death penalty essentially doesn't exist. States like Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin do not have the death penalty, Streib said.

States like Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are middle of the road in terms of supporting the death penalty. Most citizens of those states would say they support it, but that support wouldn't be as strong as it is in the South.

Waiving appeals

Three death row inmates have waived their appeals since Ohio reinstated capital punishment in 1981. Wilford Berry, nicknamed "The Volunteer," was executed in 1999, becoming the first inmate since 1963 to be executed in Ohio.

Some death row inmates consider it a mistake to waive appeals, but others understand and know how the isolation of death row can break an inmate's spirit.

The depression that goes with life on the row is a big reason some inmates waive their appeals or consider that option. Some do it to get off death row, Richey said.

Cunningham and his half-brother, Cleveland Jackson, were sent to death row for killing two girls on Jan. 3, 2002. The men went to rob another man of drugs and money, and tried to execute eight people inside an apartment on Eureka Street.

Cunningham, 32, said no death row inmate has the initial mindset of wanting to be executed but nothing but time in a small cell changes people and causes them to give up hope.

"It just happens," he said.

Early on when he was depressed over being on death row, Cunningham said he considered waiving his appeals.

"I had thoughts of it but I changed my mind," he said. "I can say right now I'm not considering it. I can't say what I'll do in a year or what thoughts will go through my mind."

And although he has found religion and peace since his arrival on death row, Cunningham admits he still struggles with life on the row.

"I still have my moments," he said.

Joseph, 33, is on death row for the June 1990 murder of 16-year-old Bath High School student Ryan Young. Yarbrough, who is 47, is on death row for the May 1994 murder of 34-year-old Wilma Arnett in Sidney. Arnett was a police informant scheduled to testify against a drug dealer, who upon learning that, paid Yarbrough $10,000 to kill her.

Inmates' view on appeals

Jackson said he doubts he will ever walk out of prison a free man but holds out hope an appeal can get him off death row.

He doesn't allow himself to get his hopes up over his appeal and sometimes feels as if he is fighting a losing battle.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm in a no-win situation, otherwise my spirit (is) up. I'm not saying I'm letting my hopes soar, I ain't going to stop until I'm all the way down," he said.

Jackson said he would not accept a deal to spend the rest of his life in prison to get off death row.

"Ain't nobody want life without parole. That's still death," he said.

Cunningham offered no prediction on whether he will remain on death row until execution or whether an appeal will be successful.

"You can't predict that. I would be a total fool to even predict that. My best chances are in prayer. You never know what the court will do," he said.

Richey has received his most favorable response from any court at the 6th Circuit. That court has expressed doubt over whether his conviction, based on Ohio law at the time, is valid.

The judicial panel expressed doubt in a written question it sent to the Ohio Supreme Court asking for clarification on the law. If Richey wins, his murder conviction could be tossed and he may have enough time served on the other crimes to be eligible for parole.

But all that is a big maybe and Richey has spent more than enough time on death row to know better than to get his hopes up.

"I've learned my lesson over the years," he said.

Not afraid to die

Richey knows he's approaching the end of appeals and said he's not afraid to die. It's a reality he has to face, he said.

"It angers me. All my friends around me end up being executed," he said.

Jackson said he does not fear being executed and has prepared himself for the day, if it comes.

"When they tell me it's time to go, what am I going to say, "I'm not going?" he said. "It's a possibility. You've got to include that in your thoughts."

Jackson views the execution process as being similar to surgery, he said.

"I've had surgery before. I see it like going under anesthesia. You don't feel nothing but you don't wake up," he said.

Cunningham, like Richey and Jackson, said he does not fear execution.

"That's the reality. That was the sentence," he said. "I know where I am so it doesn't scare me. I also know the state is not playing."

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