COLUMBUS — An Ohio Supreme Court justice who helped craft the state's death penalty law said an independent panel should review the cases of Ohio's 201 death-row inmates.

        Justice Paul Pfeifer said a panel, removed from the political process, could provide “future peace of mind for governors who have the difficult call at the end as to whether or not to commute sentences.”

        Justice Pfeifer, a Republican from Bucyrus, led the Senate committee that helped shape Ohio's death penalty 20 years ago. Such a new panel would screen death row inmates whose mental condition might raise questions about their competence, he said.

        It would also deal with what's known as a proportionality review — whether the death penalty was evenly applied to those convicted of the same crimes, Justice Pfeifer said.

        Mary Anne Sharkey, spokeswoman for Gov. Bob Taft, said Monday the governor is interested in learning more about Justice Pfeifer's proposal but thinks Ohio's death penalty system provides adequate safeguards.

        The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported Monday Justice Pfeifer called the Supreme Court's death penalty review process “little more than lip service.”

        Chief Justice Thomas Moyer declined to comment on Justice Pfeifer's specific criticism, or comment generally on the court's oversight of death penalty cases.

        Since Ohio reinstated the death penalty in October 1981, the high court has overturned three death sentences among the 136 capital cases it has heard, according to court records.

        Some areas impose the death penalty more often than others. Of the 201 men on death row, for example, 45 are from Hamilton County, the state's third-most populous county.

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