Timothy McGinty, the Chief Prosecutor of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, is encour­ag­ing the Ohio Parole Board to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for death row inmate Billy Slagle (pic­tured). Slagle was sen­tenced to death in 1988 for the mur­der of his neigh­bor, Mari Ann Pope. At the time of the mur­der, Slagle was only 18 years old, which, along with Slagle’s prob­lems of sub­stance abuse and his record of good behav­ior in prison, has now led the coun­ty pros­e­cu­tor to sup­port a com­mu­ta­tion. In his state­ment to the Parole Board, McGinty said, ​“While in no way do these fac­tors excuse or mit­i­gate the crime and need for appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment in this case, they would like­ly have led a jury to rec­om­mend a sen­tence of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole had that been an option.” At the time of Slagle’s sen­tenc­ing, the max­i­mum avail­able sen­tence oth­er than death was life in prison with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after 30 years. Slagle’s clemen­cy hear­ing is sched­uled for July 8. His exe­cu­tion is sched­uled for August 7. Governor John Kasich has the pow­er to grant clemen­cy even if the Board does not recommend it.

(P. Galbincea, ​“Prosecutor McGinty asks Ohio Parole Board to com­mute Billy Slagle’s death sen­tence in 1987 mur­der,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 3, 2013.) See Clemency and New Voices.

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