Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Taft's minister: Spare Berry
He'll ask governor for clemency for 'Volunteer'
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Gov. Bob Taft's minister plans to ask him to spare the life of Wilford Lee Berry, scheduled to be executed Feb. 19 by lethal injection.
The Rev. Richard Wing, pastor at First Community Church in Columbus, said Tuesday he wants Gov. Taft to spare Mr. Berry, a convicted killer. He is nicknamed “the Volunteer” because he would rather die than spend his life in prison.
Mr. Taft should seek people outside the political arena to help him make the life-or-death decision, said the Rev. Mr. Wing, who described himself as a staunch opponent of the death penalty.
“He is going to get clobbered from all sorts of direc tions on this,” the Rev. Mr. Wing said. “He needs support from somebody like myself as he searches for answers.”
Mr. Taft, a death penalty supporter, could be the last person able to stop Mr. Berry from being the first person executed in Ohio since 1963.
The governor said Tuesday he has started to review a clemency petition filed on behalf of Mr. Berry by Ohio's Catholic bishops but has not made a decision.
“I plan to spend a lot of time on this,” Mr. Taft said. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if I hear from Rev. Wing and other members of the church.”
For now, Mr. Berry's fate remains in the hands of the judiciary.
U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley will decide by Friday whether the execution should be delayed while Mr. Berry undergoes more psychological testing.
Against Mr. Berry's wishes, the Ohio Public Defender's office contends he may have suffered brain damage when other death row prisoners severely beat him during a Sept. 5, 1997, riot at the Mansfield Correctional Institution.
Judge Marbley previously overturned an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that Mr. Berry is competent to waive his appeals. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati reinstated it.
Working on behalf of Mr. Berry's mother and sister, public defenders argue that his mental competency should be measured again because the prison beating occurred after the first round of tests.
Lawyers for Attorney General Betty Montgomery are urging Judge Marbley to throw out the appeal.
“They may have evidence that he was beaten, but they don't have any credible medical evidence to show he is mentally incompetent,” said Mark R. Weaver, deputy attorney general.
Mr. Berry, 36, was sentenced to die for shooting his boss, Cleveland baker Charles Mitroff, in 1989.
This is the second execution date he has faced. On March 3, he was being taken to the execution chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily stopped the procedure.
The court later refused to consider another appeal from Mr. Berry's mother and sister, allowing next month's execution date to be set.
If the courts clear the way, it would mark the first time in 35 years that Ohio's governor would be the last person able to stop the death penalty from being carried out.
Former Gov. George Voinovich, a Catholic, appeared troubled about the clemency petition before Mr. Berry's first execution date. A close friend, Catholic Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland, had supported the plea for mercy with an emotional letter.
Mr. Voinovich, now a U.S. senator, was spared from making such a decision. Now it's Mr. Taft's call to make.
“I don't need to lecture him about biblical morality, but this is high tension,” the Rev. Mr. Wing said. “It's a tough position (that) I'm not sure I would want to be in.”
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