Main Menu
Home News Injustice in Ohio Another reason to halt executions Another reason to halt executions
Monday, 09 June 2008
A federal appeals court ruled last week that a Cleveland man who has been on Ohio's death row for 19 years must be given a new trial or freed from prison.
The three-judge panel said that prosecutors withheld from Joe D'Ambrosio's attorneys several pieces of evidence that could have cleared him of a 1988 murder.
The range of evidence that defense attorneys didn't know about when they were trying to save D'Ambrosio's life is remarkable. It included the fact that the man who pinned the fatal stabbling of Tony Klann on D'Ambrosio had a motive himself for committing the murder.
This ruling is yet another reason for Gov. Ted Strickland to declare a moratorium on executions in Ohio.
Twice in the past three years, extensive studies of death-row cases in Ohio have found serious irregularities in the process of trying capital-punishment cases. After a certain point - execution day - the errors caused by these problems cannot be undone.
Ohio can't allow its judicial system to get to that point.