Post by MXB on Jun 7, 2006 19:14:27 GMT -5
Capital punishment has been a part of Ohio's justice system since early in the state's history. From 1803 when Ohio became a state, until 1885, executions were carried out by public hanging in the county where the crime was committed.
In 1885 legislators enacted a law that required executions to be carried out in the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. The first person to be executed at the Ohio Penitentiary was Valentine Wagner, aged 56, from Morrow County, who was hanged for the murder of Daniel Shehan from Mt Gilead. Twenty eight murderers were hanged at the penitentiary.
In 1897 the electric chair which was considered to be a more technologically advanced and humane form of execution replaced the gallows.
The first person to be executed by electrocution was William Haas, a 17-year-old boy from Hamilton County, for the murder of Mrs. William Brady. The last person ececuted by this method was Donald Reinholt, a 29 year-old inmate from Franklin County, for the murder of Edgar L. Weaver, a Columbus grocer. He was executed on March 15th 1963.
From 1897 until 1963 there were 315 persons put to death in the electric chair, including three women.
In 1972 the United States Supreme Court declared the death penalty to be unconstititional. This reduced the death sentences of 65 Ohio inmates to life in prison. The Ohio Death Row was also moved to the newly opened Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) , at Lucasville, in 1972.
In 1974, the Ohio General Assembly revised Ohio's Death penalty law, but the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the new law in 1978. As a result 120 condemned prisoners, including four women, had their sentences commuted to life in prison.
After drafting a new law to reflect the strict criteria for the imposition of the death sentence, Ohio lawmakers enacted the current capital punishment statute, which took effect on October 19th, 1981.
Leonard Jenkins of Cuyahoga County was the first to be sentenced under the current law. his sentence and the sentences of three other men and four women were later commuted to life by Governor Richard Celeste, during the last days of his tenure as govenor in January 1991.
The Franklin County Common Pleas Court found seven of the eight clemencies to have been improperly imposed (including Jenkins), and reinstated the death penalty of those inmates, and they were returned to death row on February 14th, 1992. The commutation of one woman, Beatrice Lampkin, was found to have been properly processed and was not challenged in the suit filed by the Ohio Attorney General.
The 1992 decision was overturned early in 1997, and those seven clemencies were subsequently reinstated.
In 1993, a bill granting prisoners the option to choose between death by electrocution or lethal injection was passed and signed into law by Governor George V. Voinovich. The death row inmate would be asked to choose between the two methods seven days before the scheduled execution. The law stipulated that if the prisoner did not choose, that the default method of execution would be death by electrocution.
In 1995, death row was relocated to Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio. the "Death House" and "Execution Chamber" remain at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Women who are sentenced to death are held at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, in Marysville, until a few days prior to their execution date. Currently there are 2 women on Ohio's death row.
On August 21st, 2001, DRC changed the time of scheduled executions from 9 p.m until 10 a.m. The change was implemented to take advantage of business hour resources as well as to reduce costs.
On November 15th, 2001, Governor Bob Taft signed House Bill 362, eliminating the electric chair as a form of execution. Therefore the condemned prisoner no longer has a chioce of execution methods, lethal injection being the method now used.
On February 26, 2002 Ohio's electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", was decommissioned and disconnected from service.
In March 2005, the state announced plans to move all of its death row prisoners from the prison in Mansfield to the OSP in Youngstown. The $157 daily cost per inmate would drop if the facility had more prisoners, state officials argued. Specific details were not initially disclosed. The current OSP is a 502 inmate capacity supermax prison, designed to hold the state's most dangerous prisoners who have poor conduct records
In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union won the federal case of Wilkinson v. Austin, requiring certain due process guidelines be used in determining if prisoners can be moved to Ohio State. The number of inmates dropped after a court-ordered review of individual cases determined that two-thirds of the prisoners did not meet the inclusion guidelines set down.
In October 2005, a federal judge ruled that the state can move death row to OSP, while cautioning that he will be monitoring prison officials' efforts to make promised changes to the prison. A majority of Ohio’s death-row prisoners have now been transferred to Youngstown. Executions have not been moved and still take place at the Lucasville facility.
DEATH ROW INMATES
The Ohio prison inmates have been sentenced to death for convictions of Aggravated Murder. Male inmates are housed at Ohio State penitentiary in Youngstown and the Mansfield Correctional Institution. Female death row inmates are housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. There are currently two females on death row in Ohio. The list is current as of May 2, 2006. There are a total of 194 inmates on death row in Ohio: 192 men, 2 women (96 African American men; 88 Caucasian men; 4 Hispanic men; 2 Native Americans; 2 Arab Americans; 2 Caucasian females
In 1885 legislators enacted a law that required executions to be carried out in the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. The first person to be executed at the Ohio Penitentiary was Valentine Wagner, aged 56, from Morrow County, who was hanged for the murder of Daniel Shehan from Mt Gilead. Twenty eight murderers were hanged at the penitentiary.
In 1897 the electric chair which was considered to be a more technologically advanced and humane form of execution replaced the gallows.
The first person to be executed by electrocution was William Haas, a 17-year-old boy from Hamilton County, for the murder of Mrs. William Brady. The last person ececuted by this method was Donald Reinholt, a 29 year-old inmate from Franklin County, for the murder of Edgar L. Weaver, a Columbus grocer. He was executed on March 15th 1963.
From 1897 until 1963 there were 315 persons put to death in the electric chair, including three women.
In 1972 the United States Supreme Court declared the death penalty to be unconstititional. This reduced the death sentences of 65 Ohio inmates to life in prison. The Ohio Death Row was also moved to the newly opened Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) , at Lucasville, in 1972.
In 1974, the Ohio General Assembly revised Ohio's Death penalty law, but the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the new law in 1978. As a result 120 condemned prisoners, including four women, had their sentences commuted to life in prison.
After drafting a new law to reflect the strict criteria for the imposition of the death sentence, Ohio lawmakers enacted the current capital punishment statute, which took effect on October 19th, 1981.
Leonard Jenkins of Cuyahoga County was the first to be sentenced under the current law. his sentence and the sentences of three other men and four women were later commuted to life by Governor Richard Celeste, during the last days of his tenure as govenor in January 1991.
The Franklin County Common Pleas Court found seven of the eight clemencies to have been improperly imposed (including Jenkins), and reinstated the death penalty of those inmates, and they were returned to death row on February 14th, 1992. The commutation of one woman, Beatrice Lampkin, was found to have been properly processed and was not challenged in the suit filed by the Ohio Attorney General.
The 1992 decision was overturned early in 1997, and those seven clemencies were subsequently reinstated.
In 1993, a bill granting prisoners the option to choose between death by electrocution or lethal injection was passed and signed into law by Governor George V. Voinovich. The death row inmate would be asked to choose between the two methods seven days before the scheduled execution. The law stipulated that if the prisoner did not choose, that the default method of execution would be death by electrocution.
In 1995, death row was relocated to Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio. the "Death House" and "Execution Chamber" remain at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
Women who are sentenced to death are held at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, in Marysville, until a few days prior to their execution date. Currently there are 2 women on Ohio's death row.
On August 21st, 2001, DRC changed the time of scheduled executions from 9 p.m until 10 a.m. The change was implemented to take advantage of business hour resources as well as to reduce costs.
On November 15th, 2001, Governor Bob Taft signed House Bill 362, eliminating the electric chair as a form of execution. Therefore the condemned prisoner no longer has a chioce of execution methods, lethal injection being the method now used.
On February 26, 2002 Ohio's electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", was decommissioned and disconnected from service.
In March 2005, the state announced plans to move all of its death row prisoners from the prison in Mansfield to the OSP in Youngstown. The $157 daily cost per inmate would drop if the facility had more prisoners, state officials argued. Specific details were not initially disclosed. The current OSP is a 502 inmate capacity supermax prison, designed to hold the state's most dangerous prisoners who have poor conduct records
In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union won the federal case of Wilkinson v. Austin, requiring certain due process guidelines be used in determining if prisoners can be moved to Ohio State. The number of inmates dropped after a court-ordered review of individual cases determined that two-thirds of the prisoners did not meet the inclusion guidelines set down.
In October 2005, a federal judge ruled that the state can move death row to OSP, while cautioning that he will be monitoring prison officials' efforts to make promised changes to the prison. A majority of Ohio’s death-row prisoners have now been transferred to Youngstown. Executions have not been moved and still take place at the Lucasville facility.
DEATH ROW INMATES
The Ohio prison inmates have been sentenced to death for convictions of Aggravated Murder. Male inmates are housed at Ohio State penitentiary in Youngstown and the Mansfield Correctional Institution. Female death row inmates are housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. There are currently two females on death row in Ohio. The list is current as of May 2, 2006. There are a total of 194 inmates on death row in Ohio: 192 men, 2 women (96 African American men; 88 Caucasian men; 4 Hispanic men; 2 Native Americans; 2 Arab Americans; 2 Caucasian females