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John Spirko deserves new trial, not life sentence - Regina Brett
Plain Dealer Columnist
How does one measure doubt?
Is John Spirko guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt?
Beyond the shadow of a doubt?
Beyond "residual" doubt?
Gov. Ted Strickland moved Spirko off Ohio's death row this week after DNA tests could not link him to the crime scene. The governor halted the Jan. 24 execution and instead gave Spirko life without parole.
Strickland cited "the slim residual doubt" about Spirko's responsibility for the murder that arises from "careful scrutiny of the case record."
Strickland said that doubt makes the death penalty "inappropriate" in this case.
Apparently, life in prison is appropriate for a man we doubt is guilty of murder.
Strickland acknowledged the lack of evidence to link Spirko to the 1982 murder of Postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger.
When I heard the governor decided not to let Spirko free or grant him a new trial, two words came to mind: Willie Horton.
Horton killed the political future of Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts during his run for president in 1988. As governor, Dukakis supported a program to let convicted felons out on weekend furloughs. While on furlough, Horton raped a woman and beat her fiancé.
Willie Horton haunts every governor.
Strickland could have given Spirko a conditional pardon with a new trial but couldn't risk placing his political future in the hands of a man like Spirko.
Who can blame him? Spirko made a career out of crime, even once served time for killing a woman. People want to keep a man like that locked up.
A spokesman for the governor called to tell me that Strickland - who is not running for vice president as I suggested Wednesday - made the decision based on all the evidence and the doubts.
Those doubts convinced the governor that Spirko should not get the death penalty, the spokesman said, but the governor would not feel safe with Spirko on the streets.
Spirko already served time for previous crimes. We can't keep a man in prison for what he might do once he is released.
Then there's the issue of who killed Betty Jane Mottinger. Her niece, Pat Wakefield, wants justice for her aunt. Her doubts about Spirko's guilt only grow.
"They're not talking about the evidence against him," she said. "Do they really have any, or is this a way to keep him in for the other things he did? I know he's done stuff. I'm just not sure he did this.
"They can't connect him to this crime," she continued. "Is the person who did it still out there? I want the correct person punished. I'm not sure he is it."
There never was physical evidence to link Spirko to the '82 crime. With the DNA tests in, there is even less.
The governor got it half right. Spirko does not belong on death row. But slim residual doubt is still too much doubt.
Whether Spirko belongs in prison for life depends solely on whether he is guilty of murdering Betty Jane Mottinger.
Only a new trial, one with all the evidence presented, would prove that.
A fair trial, the kind he should have had in the first place.
Join Regina Brett at 9 a.m. today on WCPN FM/90.3. She hosts "The Sound of Ideas" every Friday. Today's topic: Death row doubts.
To reach Regina Brett:
rbrett@plaind.com, 216-999-6328
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