Strickland delays Filiaggi's execution

In a move he had signaled earlier, Strickland delayed the first scheduled execution of his administration -- that of Kenneth Biros -- which had been planned for Tuesday, as well as those of Filiaggi and Christopher J. Newton.

Biros was granted a reprieve until March 20, Filiaggi to April 24 and Newton to May 24.

Filiaggi has been on death row for 11 years. He was convicted of shooting his ex-wife on Jan. 24, 1994, and attempting to kill her stepfather, Delbert Yepko later that same day.

Filiaggi was on the run for eight days before he surrendered to police. He left his mother's car in a Pittsburgh airport, rented another car and spent his last free days skiing in nearby states. He came back to Lorain County and surrendered.

Filiaggi has a clemency hearing scheduled before the Ohio Parole Board on Thursday morning to determine whether his death sentence should be changed to life in prison, Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said. The parole board is scheduled to hear oral arguments and decide whether to recommend clemency to Strickland, Will said.

The point of clemency is not to be the final arbitrator of guilt or innocence but to look at a person's background, his conduct, his attitude in an institution and whether that warrants reducing his penalty from death to life in prison, Ohio Public Defender David Bodiker has said.

Judge Jim Burge of Lorain County Common Pleas Court, who was Filiaggi's attorney during his trial, has said he still believes Filiaggi is not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense centered around the idea that Filiaggi had a chemical imbalance in his brain caused by a poor diet, which caused him to react violently -- an argument that has been called the ''Twinkie defense.''

One state parole board member will interview Filiaggi and present his or her findings to the rest of the board, Will said. A panel of three Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judges Edward Zaleski, Frank Horvath and Kosma Glavas, found Filiaggi guilty of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder in July 1995.

Before an execution can proceed, ''my staff and I will have conducted a comprehensive, thorough and searching review of the case to determine if any exercise of executive clemency is appropriate,'' Strickland, the first Democrat elected governor in Ohio since 1986, said in a statement.

He added that ''there is not sufficient time before these scheduled executions to complete that type of review.'' Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said Strickland was not available yesterday to elaborate on his decision.

Filiaggi's execution had been scheduled for Feb. 13, and Newton's had been set for Feb. 27.

Death penalty opponents applauded Strickland's nnouncement.

''We would highly commend him for such conscientious actions,'' said Jim Tobin of the Ohio Catholic Conference. ''We would hope at the same time he would also try to look at the whole death penalty system.''

Before leaving office, Republican Gov. Bob Taft granted condemned inmate John Spirko a fifth reprieve to allow for further DNA testing, delaying that execution until April 17.

A message was left with the Richland County prosecutor's office seeking comment on Newton's reprieve. There was no answer at the Trumbull County prosecutor's office, which handled the Biros case.

Unlike Strickland, Taft allowed an execution to proceed early in his administration. Taft took office on Jan. 11, 1999, and declined to grant clemency to Wilford Berry, who was executed on Feb. 19, 1999.

Attorney General Marc Dann said he respects Strickland's decision.

''The governor's action does not impact the legal arguments or the merits of each case, but will give him the time to learn the facts in order to make informed decisions on whether or not to grant clemency to these three inmates,'' Dann said in a statement. ''This decision is not inconsistent with the state's legal strategy.''

Dann and Strickland support the death penalty.

Judge Gregory L. Frost of the Southern District of Ohio granted a request in December to delay Biros' execution as part of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection procedures. Dann's office has appealed the delay.

©The Morning Journal 2007
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