Inmate pleads for help from death row

As John Spirko was repeating his claim of innocence, his lawyers were
trying to compel state and local officials to reopen the case and conduct
DNA testing of evidence in an effort to clear Spirko or link the crimes to
someone else.

Also on Wednesday, the Ohio Parole Board refused to reconsider its second recommendation that Gov. Bob Taft deny clemency to Spirko in the stabbing death of a northwest Ohio postal worker.

Spirko, 59, said he's having trouble accepting the realization he could
die within 2 weeks. He spoke at death row at the Mansfield Correctional
Institution with a pool reporter who forwarded the interview to other Ohio
reporters.

"It's down to the wire and you know the end is here soon. You still can't
believe it. You still have that hope that somebody is going to step up and
do the right thing," Spirko said.

"When you are in position of power, you should assert that power in the
right way. Where there are questions like this, I don't think the governor
ever had case like this before with mountain of evidence. I'm asking the
governor to give me a chance. How many more years do I have left anyway?"

Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the governor is reviewing Spirko's case
and will make a timely decision on clemency.

Spirko has said he is innocent of the killing. Authorities say he described details only someone at the scene of the crime could know.
Spirko says he got the details from media reports and used the information to make a deal with authorities to gain the release of a girlfriend, who was held on an unrelated crime.

Spirko's lawyers filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Toledo asking
for an order that Attorney General Jim Petro and Van Wert County
Prosecutor Charles Kennedy conduct DNA testing. One key piece of evidence, Spirko's lawyers say, is a painter's tarp that was used to wrap the body of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, after she was abducted from the post office she ran in Elgin and stabbed. Her body was found dumped in a field three weeks later. Petro spokeswoman Kim Norris said no decision had been made on a response to the complaint.

"We're looking at what they filed and what's available in terms of evidence that would be available for DNA testing, how well it was preserved, if it was preserved, if it was evidence that was entered in to trial," Norris said.

A house painter, John Willier, last week repeated his 1997 statement
accusing his former boss on a painting crew as the real killer and passed
a lie-detector test paid for by Northwestern University law professors who
investigate claims of wrongful capital convictions, defense attorney
Thomas Hill said.

Hill said the former boss, Dale Dingus, had threatened to kill Willier if
he ever told authorities about the crime, which Willier described as a
botched drug pickup at the post office.

Dingus is imprisoned at the Avoyelles Correctional Center in Cottonport,
La. Prison officials there said Wednesday they could not give information
on his crime, but published reports have said it is rape. He must serve at
least until 2019.

The (Cleveland) Dealer reported that Dingus said he had no involvement in the crime or any knowledge of what happened to Mottinger. The Associated Press on Wednesday left a message seeking comment from Dingus through the warden's office.

Edwin Colfax, director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School, said he has little hope that the case
will be reopened without Taft's help.

"It's really up to the governor at this point," Colfax said. "We're calling on the governor directly to pursue this testing as well. We're basically going to recruit the governor to get the facts."

Death penalty opponents are urging people to write to Taft to grant clemency, said Alice Gerdeman, chairwoman of Ohioans to Stop Executions. Rickel said Taft has received correspondence from the law school professors and Spirko's lawyers but none since the complaint was filed. He also said the governor has received 1,592 letters, e-mails and faxes urging clemency for Spirko. Taft received 6,721 pleas for clemency before the 2002 execution of John Byrd, Rickel said.

"The governor should find it very difficult to accept an execution under
his watch when there is doubt about the guilt," Gerdeman said.

The parole board recommended Oct. 19 that Taft deny clemency after a rare 2nd hearing on Spirko's case. The vote in both recommendations was 6-3.

On the Net: John Spirko: http://www.johnspirko.com

(source: Associated Press)