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Condemned inmate appeals sentence because of justice's comments
Thursday, 02 February 2006
A condemned inmate has asked that his death sentence be overturned because of comments made by an Ohio Supreme Court justice when she was arrested for drunken driving. Maxwell D. White Jr., 40, sentenced to death for the January 1996 shooting of State Highway Patrol Trooper James R. Gross, claims in an appeal filed in Ashland County Common Pleas Court that the comments show Justice Alice Robie Resnick is biased.
During her arrest in January 2005 near Bowling Green, Resnick told state
troopers, "Don't you know I decide all these cases in your favor and look
at what you're doing to me," according to the transcript of the video
taken from a patrol dashboard camera.
Resnick has concurred with Ohio Supreme Court decisions upholding White's conviction and death sentence.
"Justice Resnick's statement suggests that her decisions to affirm Mr.
White's conviction including her independent assessment to uphold Mr.
White's death sentence was influenced by her own judicial bias or that she at least had an interest in the outcome of the case," White's attorney,
Michael J. Benza, wrote in the appeal filed Monday.
A message seeking comment from Resnick was left with her on Wednesday.
Ashland County Prosecutor Ramona Francesconi-Rogers said she isn't sure the court has jurisdiction in the appeal case.
"It has nothing to do with how Ashland County handled the case," she said.
"It has to do with the supposed conduct of Justice Resnick during her
arrest."
Francesconi-Rogers is fighting a separate U.S. 6th Circuit Court of
Appeals decision in December that overturned White's sentence because of a juror said during jury selection that she was predisposed to imposing the death penalty.
The court gave the state 180 days to hold a new penalty phase before
White's death sentence is set aside, and Francesconi-Rogers said she has
requested a new hearing.
(source: Ashland Times-Gazette)