Ohio: clemency granted to death row inmate Shawn Hawkins

Shawn Hawkins

Kasich commutes convicted killer's sentence to life without parole

Gov. John Kasich has decided convicted killer Shawn Hawkins should not be executed because there is doubt about his guilt. He commuted Hawkins' death sentence to life without the possibility of parole.

Hawkins' attorney Anthony G. Covatta issued a statement thanking Kasich for his "merciful decision."

"Our thanks go out to the thousands of citizens and interested persons, from holders of high public office to the ordinary people on the streets and in the churches, temples and synagogues of our great state and around the world who supported us in this application. More remains to be done to see that Shawn is someday a free man. The struggle continues. The dream will never die."

It was the first time since taking office in January that the Republican governor used his gubernatorial clemency power to stop an execution; he previously allowed four killers to be put to death.

Hawkins, 42, of Cincinnati, was scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing Terrence Richard, 18, and Diamond Marteen, 19, in a drug deal gone bad. The 2 men were found shot to death in a car in Mt. Healthy, a Cincinnati suburb, on the morning of June 12, 1989.

Hawkins' case presented Kasich with a dilemma, compounded by the Ohio Parole Board's unanimous recommendation favoring clemency.

"The board is not confident in the death sentence in this case, but is also not convinced that Shawn Hawkins is innocent," the board said in its May 12 ruling. The board said Hawkins was "clearly involved" in the drug deal and the murders, but that aspects of his conviction are "troubling."

Supporters claim there is no indisputable evidence that Hawkins killed Richard and Marteen after they negotiated a deal to purchase a pound of marijuana for $1,400. Hawkins claimed that he could not reach his supplier and the drug deal never happened.

The two young men were each shot twice in the head with a .25-caliber handgun.

At his clemency hearing, Hawkins' mother, Judy Hogan, pleaded for her son's life.

"I conceived him, carried him, birthed him, raised him. I don't want to bury him," she said.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters vigorously disputed Hawkins' innocence claim, calling it "total nonsense." He said the murder conviction and sentence was reviewed and upheld by 33 judges. He dispatched two staff members last week to meet with Kasich's legal team.

However, Deters said he would abide by the governor's decision.

Family members of the 2 men who died urged the board not to recommend clemency for Hawkins.

Source: Columbus Dispatch, June 8, 2011

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