Youngstown Daily Legal News

Proposal designed to address apparent racial disparity in Ohio death sentences

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 29, 2017

A bill meant to end an apparent racial disparity in Ohio death sentences has stalled in a Senate committee.

Senate Bill 12, titled the Racial Justice Act, would provide that a defendant cannot be executed if the defendant's race was the basis of the decision to seek or impose the death penalty, among other provisions.

"Ohio is no stranger to the unfair burden placed on racial and ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system," said SB 12 sponsor Sen. Charleta Tavares, D-Columbus.

The senator cited a 1999 Report of The Ohio Commission on Racial Fairness, which found that of the 174 men on death row, 87 were black as opposed to 81 white.

"Despite the fact that (black) males only made up 5 percent of Ohio's population at the time, they accounted for 50 percent of all defendants on death row," Tavares said.

The report concluded: "The numbers speak for themselves. A perpetrator is geometrically more likely to end up on death row if the homicide victim is white rather than black. The implication of race in this gross disparity is not simply explained away and demands thorough examination, analysis and study until a satisfactory explanation emerges which eliminates race as the cause for these widely divergent numbers."

SB 12 would allow a defendant to file a motion alleging that his race was the basis of the decision for a jury to seek or impose the death penalty.

According to analysis of the bill provided by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, the defendant must raise the claim at a pretrial conference or during postconviction proceedings and the motion must state with particularity how the defendant's claim is supported by evidence that race was a significant factor in decisions to seek or impose a death sentence in the state, the county in which the defendant was prosecuted, or the prosecutor's office that prosecuted the defendant's case at the time that the death sentence was sought or imposed in the case.

"If the court finds that the defendant's motion fails to state a sufficient claim under the bill's provisions, it must dismiss the claim without an evidentiary hearing," analyst Dennis Papp wrote for the commission. "If the court finds that the defendant's motion states a sufficient claim under those provisions, it must schedule an evidentiary hearing on the claim.

"As a condition to the filing and consideration of the motion, the defendant must knowingly and voluntarily waive any objection to the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole based upon common law, statutory law, or the Ohio Constitution or U.S. Constitution that otherwise would require that the defendant be eligible for parole."

Such a waiver must be in writing, signed by the defendant, and included in the motion, the analysis detailed.

If the court determines a hearing is required, it would ask the defendant to confirm the waiver at the hearing and make the inquiry and the defendant's responses a part of the record.

Upon a court's grant of relief, judgment must include a finding that the defendant waived any objection to the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole

Tavares noted that in 1998 Kentucky was the first state to pass the act.

"North Carolina was the second state to introduce such legislation in 2009," the senator continued. "Since the North Carolina law was passed ... , four inmates had their sentences converted from death to life in prison after proving racial bias.

"However, despite the legislature's intent, the legislation was repealed in 2013 by the former governor, Pat McCrory."

Tavares also cited the American Bar Association's review of the state's implementation of the death penalty, which found from 1981 to 2000, defendants who killed white Ohioans were 3.8 times more likely to receive the death penalty than those who killed blacks.

A 2016 study - The Impact of Race, Gender, and Geography on Ohio Executions - found the disparity more pronounced when gender is a factor: Homicides involving white female victims are six times more likely to result in an execution than homicides involving black male victims.

"We have state and federal laws that prohibit racial discrimination and racial biases," Tavares continued. "We are seeking to have fairness and equity in our criminal justice system.

"Justice is supposed to be blind yet; evidence has clearly shown that racial and ethnic minority populations are unfairly discriminated against in many aspects of the criminal justice system including death penalty sentences. It is incumbent upon us as members of the Ohio Legislature not to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to this miscarriage of justice."

Democrat Sens. Cecil Thomas and Kenny Yuko, respectively of Cincinnati and Richmond Heights, joined Tavares to cosponsor the bill, which is before the Judiciary Committee.

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