Thursday, February 04, 1999
Way cleared for execution
Parole board won't deny 'Volunteer'
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — If Wilford Lee Berry Jr. wants to be executed, the Ohio Parole Board won't deny the convicted killer his wish.
In a one-page memo sent Wednesday to Gov. Bob Taft, the board unanimously rejected a plea to spare Mr. Berry's life, clearing the way for him to become the first person executed in Ohio since 1963.
Mr. Berry, dubbed “The Volunteer” by prosecutors because he chose to waive his court appeals, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 19 at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
“The governor is carefully reviewing the case,” said Scott Milburn, Mr. Taft's spokesman. “He takes his clemency authority very, very seriously.”
Mr. Berry, 36, was sentenced to die for shooting his boss, Cleveland baker Charles Mitroff, during a 1989 robbery. He says he would rather die than spend his life in prison.
This is the third time the parole board has rejected a plea for clemency filed by the Catholic Conference of Ohio, which contends Mr. Berry isn't mentally competent to make a life-or-death decision.
The new governor, a death penalty supporter, wants to study the board's recommendation and related documents before making a decision, Mr. Milburn said.
In the memo sent to Mr. Taft, the board said it reviewed recent medical and mental health exams conducted by the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The panel cited four reasons against clemency:
• Mr. Berry's crime was a “well-planned murder in which intentional steps were taken to avoid detection.”
• Mr. Berry was more to blame for the killing than an accomplice who might not have shot Mr. Mitroff if Mr. Berry had not initiated the idea and supplied the guns.
• Mr. Berry was “functionally able” to commit aggravated murder.
• A current psychological evaluation does not find Mr. Berry to be mentally ill.
The parole board wanted to interview Mr. Berry, but he refused.
Columbus attorney David J. Young, who filed the clemency request on behalf of the Catholic Conference, said he was upset the board didn't give the organization a chance to argue its case again. “We can't go to court, so I find this quite troubling,” said Mr. Young. “It's not in the best interest of society to execute mentally ill offenders.”
Working against Mr. Berry's wishes, the Ohio Public Defender's Office and his family contend a prison beating he sustained last year impaired his ability to decide his fate.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley denied a plea from Mr. Berry's mother and sister to order another round of tests to gauge the convicted killer's mental competency.
The public defender's office is seeking to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
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