Former Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton: "Personally I am now against the death penalty."
June 13-- Former Supreme Court Justice Eve Stratton stated she now opposes the death penalty during a presentation she made to a task force examining Ohio's capital punishment system.
Justice Stratton was invited to speak to the task force about her concerns with the glaring problem of mentally ill defendants in capital cases. However, she went on to cite many of the issues that face Ohio's death penalty system including exorbitant costs, its failure to deter crime and its failure to help victims' family members.
"Personally, I am now against the death penalty," she said in closing her presentation.
Though she said that she didn't feel strongly one way or another about the death penalty while she served on the Supreme Court, she did remark that her first capital case made her "emotional."
"The fact that Justice Stratton, a conservative former Supreme Court judge, believes our system can't be fixed is significant," said Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions. "More voices are emerging from surprising places as more people understand how fundamentally flawed the death penalty in Ohio is."
Click here to read The Columbus Dispatch's article.
OTSE's Executive Director Featured on The Diane Rehm Show
May 2-- The national spotlight fell on Ohio as our executive director, Kevin Werner, was featured on Nation Public Radio's The Diane Rehm Show.
Mr. Werner, along with Dick Dieter from the Death Penalty Information Center, Joshua Marquis of the National District Attorneys Association, and Scott Shane, a reporter for the New York Times, discussed the death penalty.
Click here to listen.
2013 Innocence Tour Launches to Overwhelming Success
April 9-- Ohioans to Stop Executions and Witness to Innocence are sponsoring a statewide tour featuring three men who have been exonerated from death row: Derrick Jamison, Dale Johnston, and Joe D'Ambrosio. Their stories highlight one of the most compelling reasons for repeal in Ohio: wrongful convictions. The tour opened with a lecture by Sr. Helen Prejean at Denison University. To read more about this incredible launch, click here for the Newa
rk Advocate's article.
All the speaking events are free and open to the public with the exception of the Capital University, which required an R.S.V.P. OTSE and Witness to Innocence are thrilled that we have already seen such an overwhelming response to this tour.
For the full schedule of speaking events, please click here.
If you have questions or need more information, please contact Allison Smith: asmith@otse.org/513.846.9777.
Update 4/12/13: Click here to read The Columbus Dispatch's article about our stop at Capital University.
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