By Sharon Turco
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A group of University of Cincinnati law students will announce today that a little more than half of Ohio's death row inmates whose cases they reviewed don't meet death penalty criteria developed in Illinois.

At an 11 a.m. press conference, they will urge Gov. Bob Taft to halt executions until every case can be reviewed.

PROSECUTOR REACTS

`What happened in Illinois is a miscarriage of justice. Thank God we have a governor like Bob Taft who would never engage in that kind of conduct.' Mike Allen, Hamilton County prosecutor

The students, from UC's Urban Justice Institute, examined 173 of Ohio's 204 inmates on death row and determined 88 should not be put to death based on a list of criteria developed by an Illinois review panel. Twenty-two of the 88 are from Hamilton County, said Dan Dodd, a law student who worked on the study.

"Predictable" is the word Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen used to describe the students' study.

"What happened in Illinois is a miscarriage of justice," said Mr. Allen, who is also on the university's board of trustees. "Thank God we have a governor like Bob Taft who would never engage in that kind of conduct."

Outgoing Illinois Gov. George Ryan announced Saturday, two days before he left office, that he had commuted the sentences of all of the state's death row inmates, effectively turning their sentences into life in prison without parole.

Mr. Taft has not yet heard the student's findings and could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

"It is the belief of the authors of the study that Gov. Taft should issue a moratorium on the death penalty and appoint a commission to study the death penalty as Illinois did," Mr. Dodd said. "We're calling for the governor to make sure not one innocent person dies in Ohio."

At today's press conference, the students will release the names of the inmates reviewed.

The criteria used in the study conflict with the factors Ohio law allows jurors to use when considering whether to recommend death sentences.

Defendants in Ohio can be put to death if they are found guilty of killing a person during a kidnapping, rape, arson, robbery, burglary or escape. They can also be executed if they are found guilty of killing someone under the age of 13, a prison inmate or a law enforcement officer, according to the Ohio Revised Code.

The students used five eligibility factors to determine who should get the death penalty, the same ones used in Illinois. They are: killing a police officer or other public safety officer; killing more than one person; killing someone involved in the judicial process such as a judge or juror; torturing someone before the killing; and killing somebody in the penal system.

As of Dec. 27, there were 204 inmates on Ohio's death row. Forty-five are from Hamilton County.

The student's spent more than six months studying the cases of 173 death row inmates for which they were paid a $1,500 stipend provided by the university and private donations made to the Urban Justice Institute. The institute offers students interested in public policy research an opportunity to do related work outside the classroom

The students first looked at all death row inmates, and then narrowed the review field to 173 - choosing only the ones on which the Ohio Supreme Court has issued written opinions.

The study compared Ohio death penalty convictions with the recommendations made by the special death penalty reform panel appointed two years ago by Mr. Ryan; and considered a set of landmark studies of death penalty cases nationwide from Columbia University.

Forty-one of the inmate cases reviewed were from Hamilton County, Mr. Dodd said. Of those, students found 22 were not eligible for the death penalty based on the Illinois criteria.

Mr. Allen said there are so many death row inmates from Hamilton County because, "we take life seriously in Hamilton County. Some criticize us, but I wear it as a badge of honor."

E-mail sturco@enquirer.com