HuGzz 'N StUff
01-04-2005, 03:05 PM
Execution date set for man convicted in 1987 rape, killing
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A man convicted of raping, robbing and killing a woman 17 years ago will ask the Ohio Parole Board next month to recommend switching his death sentence to life in prison.
The Supreme Court has set a March 8 execution date for William H. Smith, 47. The Parole Board will have a clemency hearing Feb. 8 and make a recommendation to Gov. Bob Taft, the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said on Tuesday.
Smith was sentenced to death in the September 1987 stabbing of Mary Bradford, 47. Police said she had been raped and two televisions and stereo equipment were taken from her Cincinnati apartment.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday with Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office and Smith's attorneys, Laurence Komp in suburban St. Louis, Mo., and Louis Sirkin of Cincinnati.
In late 2003, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected arguments that Smith's original attorneys failed to adequately represent him at his 1988 sentencing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal last month, and the Ohio Supreme Court set the execution date on Dec. 29.
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Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A man convicted of raping, robbing and killing a woman 17 years ago will ask the Ohio Parole Board next month to recommend switching his death sentence to life in prison.
The Supreme Court has set a March 8 execution date for William H. Smith, 47. The Parole Board will have a clemency hearing Feb. 8 and make a recommendation to Gov. Bob Taft, the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said on Tuesday.
Smith was sentenced to death in the September 1987 stabbing of Mary Bradford, 47. Police said she had been raped and two televisions and stereo equipment were taken from her Cincinnati apartment.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday with Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's office and Smith's attorneys, Laurence Komp in suburban St. Louis, Mo., and Louis Sirkin of Cincinnati.
In late 2003, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected arguments that Smith's original attorneys failed to adequately represent him at his 1988 sentencing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal last month, and the Ohio Supreme Court set the execution date on Dec. 29.
Link