Ohio on record pace as execution "killing field."

On February 4th, 2010, Ohio plans to execute Mark Brown, 37, a condemned man on Death Row for the fatal shooting of Isam Salman in 1994 during a robbery. Isam Salman was the owner of Midway Market in Youngstown Ohio. Brown received a life sentence for killing Hayder Al-Turk, a clerk, the same night.

Brown asked for a reprieve, which was denied, not because he doesn't wish to be executed but because he wants to challenge Ohio's new lethal injection technique. After the botched execution of Romell Broom back in September of 09, Ohio changed their lethal injection procedure. They used to give a three drug injection to the veins consisting of thiopental sodium, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.The execution team could not find a usable vein in Romell Broom, causing a fiasco at the Lucasville prison,of which I was in attendance. Ohio only administers one drug now according to a press release given by former Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director, Terry Collins, on November 13, 2009. Mr. Collins stated that Thiopentalsodium alone, applied intravenously with an increase of dosage, 5 times the old dosage amount will be the revised method of lethal injection. He had stated that a back up plan in case a vein site cannot be established or maintained would be the second part of the revision which would include the use of an intramuscular injection of midazolam and hydromorphone.

In September of 09, I, along with my colleague and writing partner, Jon Craig, of the Cincinnati Enquirer, attended a lecture given by Sister Helen PreJean at Xavier University, located in Cincinnati Ohio. Sister Helen is the author of the book entitled Dead Man Walking. An academy award winning movie was made based upon her experiences counseling a death row inmate, his family and the victim's family. The movie starred Susan Sarandon (as Sister Helen) and Sean Penn (the death row inmate she counseled).

In Sister Helen's lecture, she said that Ohio was becoming a killing field. Ohio reenacted the Death Penalty in the year 1974. Since 1999 we have executed 34 men. "When that needle is put in, our hand is on it." she said, emphatically!

Another nun that I met during the failed Romell Broom execution, who was also at Sister Helen's lecture, was Sister Alice Gerdeman. She is a leader of the anti death penalty group called Ohioans to Stop Executions. The group prefers to call themselves "witnesses" instead of protesters. They care deeply for the accused but just as deeply for the families of the victims and the victims themselves. They honor every mans life, good, bad or indifferent. I noticed signs while at the execution that read, "Ted Strickland, (our governor) Don't Kill For Me!" I thought, Hum, I guess he is killing for me. I had never looked at it from that standpoint before and it angered me somewhat. When I did an interview with Governor Strickland in December, on his tough year as governor for Columbus Monthly magazine, I brought up the issue of the death penalty. Governor Strickland once counseled death row inmates as a prison psychologist and is an ordained minister, by the way. He gave me a very somber look, paused as though he were deeply disturbed, and answered me by saying that the issue of the death penalty was something he thought long and hard about in contemplating his decision to run for Governor. It was clear to me, not as a reporter, but as a human being, that Strickland wished he didn't have to make life and death decisions. However, The death penalty IS legal in Ohio and he must follow the law.

• The number of executions in Ohio for 2010 would reach nine before the end of the year, that is if we have no intervention from the courts or the Governor. Ohio has scheduled an execution for each month thru September. They are as follows:
• January 7 - Vernon Smith
• February 4 - Mark Brown
• March 9 - Lawrence Reynolds
• April 20 - Darryl Durr
• May 13 - Michael Beuke
• June 10 - Richard Nields
• July 13 - William Garner
• August 10 - Roderick Davie
• September 15 - Kevin Keith

In a report from the Death Penalty information Center, they explore and conclude that based upon studies, ending the Death Penalty and having a maximum penalty of a Life Sentence would save states across the country hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The report also gives a national poll of police chiefs in which they rank the death penalty at the bottom of their priorities for achieving a safer society. The officers do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder and they rate it as one of the most inefficient uses of taxpayers money in fighting crime. Maintaining a system with 3,300 people on death row is becoming increasingly expensive. California is spending an estimated 137 million dollars per year on the death penalty but hasn't executed anyone in the last three and a half years. Florida is spending an estimated 51 million dollars per year on the death penalty amounting to 24 million dollars for each execution it carries out. Both New York and Jersey have spent well over 100 million dollars on a system that produced no executions. Both have recently stopped the practice. The report further states that the death penalty may serve some politicians as a rhetorical scare tactic but it is not a wise use of scarce criminal justice funding. In 2009, 11 state legislatures considered bills to end capital punishment and its high costs were part of these debates. As the economic crisis continues, it is expected that more states will re examine the costs of having the death penalty. The report emphasises that being "Smart On Crime" means investing in programs that really work. Capital punishment, not being one of them.

Support for the death penalty has fluctuated throughout the century. According to Gallup surveys

• In 1936, 61% of Americans favored the death penalty for persons convicted of murder.
• Support reached an all-time low in 1966, 42% were in favor.
• Throughout the 1970's and 80's the percentage of Americans in favor of the death penalty increased steadily. The percentage rate reached 80% in 1994.
• In 2004, a Gallup poll found that a growing number of Americans support life without parole instead of the death penalty for those convicted of murder.
• In 1991, 51% believed the death penalty deterred crime, and 41% believed it did not.
• In 2003, when not offered an alternative sentence, 71% supported the death penalty and 26% opposed it.

In the 1970's, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) representing over 10 million conservative Christians and 47 denominations were among the Christian groups supporting the death penalty. Today, Fundamentalist and Pentecostal groups favor the death penalty based upon the old testament. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints leaves the question of the death penalty for civil law to decide and neither opposes nor promotes it. Although the Roman Catholic Church once supported the death penalty, they now oppose it. Most protestant churches now oppose the death penalty as well. In recent years, and since the appeal from Pope John Paul II to end the death penalty, religious organizations around the nation have issued statements opposing the death penalty.

I have heard many arguments for and against capital punishment. I must say that both sides give convincing reasons for their beliefs. This is no easy issue. The arguments presented to me the most are:

1. Innocence- What if the convicted killer is really innocent? The Innocence Project has exonerated many death row inmates with DNA testing.
2. The murderer didn't show their victim any mercy, why should we show the murderer any mercy? - In the case of Romell Broom, many were outraged that his attorney, Adele Shank, referred to his treatment during the preparation for execution as "torturous" and "cruel and unusual punishment." This was because he had 18 puncture marks and a red swollen arm due to not being able to find a vein. Several people, including my grandmother, said that they should have put him in front of a firing squad! I'm glad my granny isn't a part of the execution team. She is 80 years old, so give her a break! Attorney's Adele Shank and Tim Sweeney went as far as to file a law suit in federal court, naming the good Governor, the prison director, the execution team, and a few others, as defendants. Mine and Jon's article was named in the lawsuit as evidence because Jon watched as an eyewitness to everything that happend during the failed execution while I stayed outside to interview the protesters.
3. We, as a society, should be more evolved in intellect and spirituality than to kill people for any reason.
4. Two wrongs don't make a right.
5. Death penalty is no deterrent against crime.
6. The bible says "Killem".
7. Death row prisoners just sit there on death row for 10 to 20 years while we taxpayers house and feed them. The condemned get free medical, dental and vision coverage. Most working taxpayers don't even have health coverage.Too bad the victims can't eat 3 squares and work out all day long in the weight room.
8. They should be executed after one month of sentencing, with no appeals.
9. Turn the killer over to the victims family, it wont cost the taxpayer a dime!
10. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
11. The mentally ill.- Believe it or not, we have executed some with proven physical mental retardation which is illegal. Check the case files and see just how many have proven, physical brain damage and mental retardation and that are seriously mentally challenged, sitting on death row and that have been executed..
12. Race discrimination- Most death row inmates and prison population in general are black and Hispanic men. Anything appear wrong with that picture? Maybe? Just maybe?
13. Lack of wealth.- Let's face it, money buys good attorneys and the poor just aren't useful to society all that much, except to do the jobs that rich people don't want to do. Come to think of it, I haven't come across too many rich guys that are sitting on death row.
14. Killing the perpetrator doesn't bring back the victim or take the pain away from the victims family.
15. Prisons are big business. That is why the condemned sit on death row for so long. Privatization of prisons are a prime example.

Folks, the list goes on and on and on and on. I'm sure that you, yourself, have a valid argument for or against capital punishment  and I would love to hear it in the comment section. In conclusion, let us keep in our prayers all who have fell victim to murderous hands and their families.