The Ohio Parole Board made a rare rec­om­men­da­tion of clemen­cy on July 17, vot­ing 5 – 2 that Jason Getsy​’s death sen­tence should be reduced to life with­out parole. Getsy is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on August 18 for the mur­der of Ann Serafino in 1995. A co-defen­dant who ini­ti­at­ed and orga­nized the crime received a less­er sen­tence of 35 years to life. ​“In impos­ing a death sen­tence, it is imper­a­tive that we have con­sis­ten­cy and sim­i­lar penal­ties imposed upon sim­i­lar­ly sit­u­at­ed co-defen­dants,” the Parole Board said. Since Ohio resumed exe­cu­tions in 1999, the Parole Board has only rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy two oth­er times, and in both cas­es the gov­er­nor fol­lowed the recommendations.

Getsy’s death sen­tence was over­turned by a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in 2006 because it was found to be arbi­trary. However, the sen­tence was restored by the full Circuit in an 8 – 6 vote. Gov. Ted Strickland will make the ulti­mate deci­sion on clemen­cy. The pros­e­cu­tion is oppos­ing clemen­cy. Ohio has car­ried out 31 exe­cu­tions since 1999, mak­ing it one of the lead­ing exe­cu­tion states in that period.

(Associated Press, ​“Ohio parole board makes rare mer­cy rec­om­men­da­tion in death penal­ty case,” Cleveland​.com, July 17, 2009). See Clemency and Arbitrariness.

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