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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

Ohio Death Penalty News

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | November 02, 2007 - 15:13

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a trial court judge may decide whether Ohio's legal injection execution method is cruel and unusual punishment. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections filed a writ of prohibition with the Ohio Supreme Court, attempting to stop Lorain County Judge Burge from making a decision on the 8th Amendment issue. The Department of Corrections argued that the trial judge was overstepping his authority and only federal judges can decide the issue. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled otherwise. The Ohio Department of Corrections must now disclose its execution procedures to Judge Burge. The judge will decide the issue before the defendant's capital murder trial starts. See docket for State of Ohio ex rel. Terry Collins v. Burge, Case No. 2007-1576. Source: Reginald Fields, Lorain County Judge to Decide Legality of Lethal Injection Process,The Plain Dealer, Nov. 1, 2007.

The issue of whether certain lethal injection methods are cruel and unusual punishment will soon be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court is examining Kentucky's legal injection method, but the case will probably resolve the issue in other states as well. See docket for Baze v. Rees, Case No. 07-5439. More information is on BNA, Supreme Court Today.

In Ohio, not only is the lethal injection method under scrutiny, but the entire death penalty system. A team of Ohio legal experts, including Cleveland-Marshall Associate Dean Phyllis Crocker, found that Ohio’s death penalty system has inadequate procedures to protect defendants. The experts, working under the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project, urged Governor Strickland to temporarily suspend executions in Ohio. See ABA News Release.

Continuing coverage of Ohio death penalty news can be obtained from the ACLU of Ohio News Center.


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