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Out-going Ohio Gov Ted Strickland commutes death sentence on eve of execution

By Douglas A. Berman

The Columbus Dispatch has this breaking news, headlined "Strickland spares killer of child from execution."  Here are the details: In the last death penalty case he will face as governor, Ted Strickland this morning spared the life of convicted killer Sidney Cornwell of Mahoning County. Cornwell was scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. He shot to death 3-year-old Jessica Bellew on the porch of her home in 1996. Strickland said while there is "absolutely no doubt that Mr. Cornwell is guilty of the crime of aggravated murder -- and he has admitted that," he determined that the death penalty was not appropriate given mitigating circumstances that were not presented at the time of sentencing...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 15, 2010 (boomark / email).