U.S. Postal Inspector Gregory Duerr of Cleveland has called for a delay in an upcom­ing Ohio exe­cu­tion because he said offi­cial tes­ti­mo­ny giv­en in the case of John Spirko was unre­li­able. Spirko’s November 15 exe­cu­tion date should be ​“delayed until the seri­ous issues indi­cat­ing inno­cence (are) tru­ly resolved,” Duerr not­ed. In an open let­ter to Chief Inspector Leroy Heath, Duerr ques­tioned the char­ac­ter of a key state’s wit­ness, retired postal inspec­tor Paul Hartman. Hartman had inter­ro­gat­ed Spirko numer­ous times about the 1982 kid­nap­ping and mur­der of Elgin post­mas­ter Betty Jane Mottinger. Duerr stat­ed that the postal ser­vice’s sup­port of Hartman’s state­ments in the case has put the group ​“on the side of injus­tice” because Hartman had a rep­u­ta­tion for unpro­fes­sion­al con­duct and was forced to retire ear­ly after sev­er­al inspec­tors com­plained about him. Duerr said he was threat­ened by his supe­ri­ors after he raised ques­tions about Hartman’s role in Spirko’s con­vic­tion. Duerr wrote: ​“it appears an indi­vid­ual who did not com­mit the crime is going to be exe­cut­ed.” The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has received a copy of the let­ter and has sent it to the state parole board and to Spirko’s attor­neys. The parole board has set a sec­ond clemen­cy hear­ing for Spirko on October 12. 

(Dayton Daily News, September 15, 2005). See Innocence.

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