Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio has grant­ed clemen­cy to death row inmate Jeffrey Hill (pic­tured), who was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on March 3. ​“After the review of exten­sive mate­r­i­al asso­ci­at­ed with this case, I con­cur with the unan­i­mous ratio­nale and rec­om­men­da­tion of the Ohio Parole Board,“ Strickland said in a state­ment. The Board had vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly for Hill’s com­mu­ta­tion in part because of the victim’s family’s tes­ti­mo­ny that they wished Hill’s life be spared. The Governor explained in his state­ment, ​“The Parole Board cit­ed five basic rea­sons for its rec­om­men­da­tion: the views of the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly, the lack of ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion by coun­sel at Mr. Hill’s sen­tenc­ing, the remorse demon­strat­ed by Mr. Hill regard­ing his actions, the lack of pro­por­tion­al­i­ty of the sen­tence of death in this case when com­pared with sim­i­lar mur­der cas­es, and the expressed views of two jus­tices of the Ohio Supreme Court which reviewed this case on appeal.”

(“Death Row inmate Jeffrey Hill’s sen­tence com­mut­ed by Gov. Strickland,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 12, 2009; Associated Press, ​“Strickland grants mer­cy for death row inmate,” February 13, 2009). See Clemency. Hill is the 245th death row inmate to receive clemen­cy since 1976 and the 11th in Ohio. Gov. Ryan of Illinois com­mut­ed or par­doned the death sen­tences of 171 inmates in 2003.

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