Jerome Campbell: Only Death Row inmate granted clemency

COLUMBUS (June 26, 2003) - Governor Bob Taft today issued the following statement concerning the clemency request of Jerome Campbell:

After fully considering the clemency request of Jerome Campbell, the report and recommendation of clemency by the Ohio Parole Board, letters from individual Ohioans, the arguments presented by Mr. Campbell's legal counsel and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, and a summary of the proceedings in this case, I have decided to commute the sentence of Jerome Campbell to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The case of Jerome Campbell presents a different set of circumstances than the other eight capital cases in which I have denied requests for commutation. In this case, two important pieces of information have come to light that were not available to the jury at the time the death penalty was imposed.

First, Mr. Campbell presented significant new DNA evidence that was not available to the jury at the time of trial. Although this new evidence does not exonerate Mr. Campbell, it does contradict an impression that was left in the minds of some jurors during the trial.

Second, attorneys for Mr. Campbell have presented evidence bearing on the credibility of two important prosecution witnesses. It is now apparent that two informants who were incarcerated at the time of their testimony were, in fact, interested in seeking more lenient treatment from prosecutors as a result of their testimony. This information was not presented at trial even though it would have enabled the jurors to more fully assess the veracity of the witnesses' testimony.

In weighing the significance of this new evidence for the issue of clemency, I concur with the following statements from the Parole Board's majority opinion:

"We now know more accurate, verifiable and credible facts than did the jury . . . The jury's reliance on evidence and testimony now called into question strongly suggest that another outcome in the penalty phase of Campbell's trial was at least a possibility."

When such a possibility exists, and in view of the finality of the death penalty, I believe the most responsible course of action is to commute the death sentence in this case to one of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

This conclusion does not diminish in any way Mr. Campbell's responsibility for a brutal and senseless murder or the compassion I feel for Henry Turner and his family. Nor does it conflict with the judgment of trial and appellate courts in denying Mr. Campbell's motion for a new trial. Those courts are bound by appellate judicial procedure to decide an entirely different question - namely whether the new evidence would be likely to result in an "acquittal" if  Mr. Campbell were retried.

For these reasons, I concur with the decision of the Parole Board majority to commute Jerome Campbell's sentence from death to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

May God bless the family and friends of Henry Turner.

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