On March 3, a fed­er­al District Court barred the re-pros­e­cu­tion of for­mer Ohio death row inmate Joe D’Ambrosio (pic­tured) for the mur­der of Tony Klann over 22 years ago. The court had ruled in 2006 that state pros­e­cu­tors improp­er­ly with­held evi­dence about their star wit­ness that could have exon­er­at­ed D’Ambrosio at his 1989 tri­al. That rul­ing led to D’Ambrosio’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence being vacat­ed, and he was even­tu­al­ly released on bond pend­ing a pos­si­ble retri­al. But the state delayed repros­e­cut­ing him and did not tell the court that its pri­ma­ry wit­ness, their only eye­wit­ness to the mur­der, had died. The court con­clud­ed that these devel­op­ments biased D’Ambrosio’s chances for a fair tri­al, and hence the state was barred from retry­ing him. The state may appeal this decision.

Judge Kate O’Malley wrote in the court deci­sion, ​“If any case prop­er­ly should be described as extra­or­di­nary, it is this one. For 20 years, the State held D’Ambrosio on death row, despite wrong­ful­ly with­hold­ing evi­dence that ​‘would have sub­stan­tial­ly increased a rea­son­able juror’s doubt of D’Ambrosio’s guilt.’ ” She not­ed that the state ​“showed star­tling indif­fer­ence to D’Ambrosio’s rights.” A co-defen­dant, Michael Keenan, was also con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death and main­tains his inno­cence. The state’s star wit­ness, Edward Espinoza, plead­ed guilty to the mur­der in exchange for a reduced charge and was eventually released.

(P. Krouse, ​“Judge bars re-pros­e­cu­tion of Joe D’Ambrosio, slams pros­e­cu­tors,” The Plain Dealer, March 3, 2010). See also Innocence and Arbitrariness. Because of pend­ing appeals, D’Ambrosio has not been added to DPIC’s list of exon­er­a­tions, which cur­rent­ly num­bers 139. Five death row inmates have been exon­er­at­ed in Ohio since 1973.

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