Ex-prisons boss 'not opposed' to ending death penalty

Now Wilkinson would like to see executions done away with entirely.

"I would not oppose the abolition of the death penalty statute," he said. "The

United States is the only industrialized nation in the world with the death penalty - on the books in 38 states."

Wilkinson, who served 15 years as department director under two governors, kept quiet his opinion on the death penalty for decades and has no plans to crusade against executions in Ohio. But he said the punishment does not deter murders and it doesn't save money, given the costly supervision on Death Row and lengthy court appeals.

Former state senator, Richard Finan, a Cincinnati area Republican who authored Ohio's death penalty statute, remains an ardent supporter.

"I believe, if it's applied within a reasonable amount of time from when the crime occurred, it's a deterrent. You can't have a deterrent after 20 years but after five or six years, you could have a deterrent situation. And secondly, it's a situation where the punishment fits the crime. There's not a lot of instances where the death penalty is applied. It's very conservatively applied where there is the intent to murder and so forth and so on. So I think it's an appropriate penalty for the crime."

He added that executions bring closure for the victims' families.

"It's interesting that people are against the death penalty until the crime is committed against someone in their families. Then they're all for it," Finan said.

Executions resumed in Ohio in 1999, when Wilford Berry of Cuyahoga County was put to death. Since then, 23 other death row inmates have been executed, including five last year. Three more are scheduled in the next six weeks, although new Gov. Ted Strickland has said he may need more time to review case files.

Ohio has a law that allows murderers to be sentenced to life without parole, which Wilkinson said he views as "an eye for an eye" punishment that removes the killer from society.

Although he is out of government now, Wilkinson chooses his words carefully. When asked if the death penalty is morally right, he said, "It's not so much related to morality as it is related to the administration of justice. To quote an over-used saying, 'Why should you kill people who kill people to show that killing is wrong?'"

Finan does not support Attorney General Marc Dann's call for a study on the death penalty.

"We've studied it up one side and down the other and I don't see any need for a study," Finan said. "Look, somebody clambered for years to get rid of the electric chair so we got rid of that. I was opposed to that. So they then went to lethal injections. Now they're saying that is unconstitutional. It's always something."

Death penalty opponents protest at state prison
Monday, January 15, 2007

Protesters promoted the cause of prisoners charged in the Lucasville riot.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN - About 50 opponents of the death penalty gathered outside the Ohio State Penitentiary to send a message.

"We have a new governor," said Susan Schnur, 49, of Cleveland. "We're hoping this is a starting point. We want Governor Strickland to see us."

The protest Sunday was organized by activists in Cleveland but also included Youngstown-area residents. The protesters were allowed to gather, chant and display signs on the side of a driveway leading into the Coitsville-Hubbard Road prison, which is home to Ohio's death row inmates.

They staged the protest on the Martin Luther King Day weekend because of King's involvement in social justice.

'Lucasville five'

Besides their general opposition to the death penalty, the protesters also were trying to raise public attention of "the Lucasville five."

The five men were found guilty of additional charges after the 1993 riot at a state prison in Lucasville. Atty. Staughton Lynd of Niles recently wrote the book "Lucasville - The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising" that claims the men were unfairly charged and had nothing to do with the death of prison guards.

Sharon Danann, 56, of Cleveland received a call from one of those Lucasville prisoners a few months ago and gathered her activist friends to form the Lucasville Five Defense Committee. They are pushing for pardons for all men charged in the riot because they say the investigation was not handled properly.

Danann and others are part of groups in Cleveland that fight for social causes.

Danann said the turnout for the protest exceeded her expectations.

Reasons for opposition

Carl Miller, 19, of Berea said he joined because he thinks capital punishment is a "tool of the rich."

A common theme among the protesters was "You never see a rich man executed."

Olivia Flak, 34, of Youngstown said she is against the death penalty because society isn't working hard enough to help people escape poverty.

"Someone may commit a crime, but they don't know any other way of life. That's why I'm against capital punishment," she said.

Rain pelted the protesters, who started in a parking lot of a church adjacent to the prison but then moved to the waterlogged grass that ran along the prison driveway. Their spirits were high, however.

Olivia Flak's mother, Chris Flak, 52, of Youngstown huddled under an umbrella and summed it up for everyone who came out.

"On a rainy day like this you have to have it in your heart," she said.

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