Murdered by the State of Ohio on June 3, 2009
Daniel Wilson
Several factors in Mr. Wilson’s case history merited executive clemency, principally that the trial court’s explanation of the case’s sole death sentence specification to the trial jury was ruled to be constitutionally erroneous and invalid by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (No. 03-3362 Wilson v. Mitchell, August 15, 2007). Opinion below.
The erroneous trial court instruction allowed the jury to consider the death sentence while being improperly instructed how to consider and weigh the evidence in mitigation when considering the death penalty specification. Daniel Wilson was the only person on Ohio ’s Death Row that had not had a jury weigh a valid death sentence specification.
Other mitigating factors included Daniel’s remarkably abusive childhood, his expression of deep regret for and acceptance of responsibility for the pain he caused, and his successful efforts to become a “positive and productive” member of the Ohio prison population as demonstrated by his serving as legal typist and librarian in the death row library as well as a GED tutor.
http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2009/2009-ohio-2347.pdf
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Pastor Neil Kookoothe, a Roman Catholic priest and spiritual advisor, reads a written statement from Daniel Wilson after his execution at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville on June 3.
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Clemency Denial
(You may note that the inmate number is not correct. The number after Daniel Wilson's name belongs to Brett Hartmann who had been scheduled to be executed on April 7, 2009, but received a temporary stay of execution. It would seem that clemency denials are perhaps form letters and lack the care and consideration that the letter states.)
The Truth About Capital Punishment
By James Hansee of Whitewater Crossing Christian Church
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