The Ohio Parole Board held a hear­ing on June 14, 2018 to con­sid­er clemen­cy for death-row pris­on­er Raymond Tibbetts, whose February 13 exe­cu­tion was halt­ed by Governor John Kasich to con­sid­er a juror’s request that Tibbets be spared. Ross Geiger, one of the twelve jurors who sen­tenced Tibbetts to death in 1997, wrote to Governor Kasich on January 30 express­ing ​“deep con­cerns” about a ​“very flawed” tri­al and say­ing he ​“would not have rec­om­mend­ed the death penal­ty” had the jury been pro­vid­ed com­plete infor­ma­tion about Tibbetts’ upbring­ing. Tibbetts’ clemen­cy appli­ca­tion has been buoyed by the sup­port of two crim­i­nal jus­tice experts, Judge James A. Brogan (pic­tured), a for­mer pros­e­cu­tor and past chief jus­tice of the Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges Association who chaired the Ohio Supreme Court’s Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty, and George D. Alexander, a for­mer Ohio prison war­den and prison chap­lain. Geiger wrote that the jury had vot­ed for death after the pros­e­cu­tion had led them to believe that Tibbetts and his sib­lings had lived nor­mal lives and his sib­lings ​”had turned out fine.” He lat­er learned that Tibbetts’ tri­al lawyer had failed to present evi­dence that Tibbetts had been aban­doned at age 2, then abused and mal­nour­ished in fos­ter care, and that ​“of Mr. Tibbetts’ four sib­lings, one com­mit­ted sui­cide, one also spent time in prison, one is essen­tial­ly home­less and unem­ployed, and only his sis­ter is now doing well, despite hav­ing had a very tur­bu­lent younger life.” In a guest col­umn in the Columbus Dispatch, Judge Brogan laud­ed Governor John Kasich’s deci­sion in February to grant Tibbetts a reprieve so that Geiger could present his case to spare Tibbetts to the parole board. Brogan not­ed that the vote of just one juror is enough to pre­vent the impo­si­tion of a death sen­tence. ​“Fundamental flaws in the tri­al process deprived the jury of key facts that would have pre­vent­ed this juror from vot­ing in favor of death,” he wrote. ​“These tru­ly extra­or­di­nary cir­cum­stances cry out for a clemen­cy rec­om­men­da­tion rather than an exe­cu­tion.” Alexander, the for­mer prison war­den and chap­lain, added that Tibbetts has shown remark­able reha­bil­i­ta­tion dur­ing his time in prison. ​“By all accounts, by the grace of God, Tibbetts has expe­ri­enced a rad­i­cal trans­for­ma­tion,” Alexander wrote in a com­men­tary pub­lished in the Akron Beacon-Journal. ​“He is no longer the trou­bled crim­i­nal, addict­ed to drugs and alco­hol, as he was when he entered death row 20 years ago. He is remorse­ful, reflec­tive and reformed.” The parole board will make a rec­om­men­da­tion for or against clemen­cy, but the ulti­mate deci­sion rests with Governor Kasich. [UPDATE: On June 22, the Ohio parole board rec­om­mend­ed that Governor Kasich deny clemen­cy to Mr. Tibbetts.]

(James A. Brogan, Column: Juror’s con­cern requires clemen­cy for Tibbetts, The Columbus Dispatch, June 3, 2018; George D. Alexander, A retired war­den sup­ports clemen­cy for death-row inmate Ray Tibbetts, Akron Beacon Journal, June 11, 2018.) See Clemency and New Voices.

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