By Sharon Turco
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Campbell

In a last-minute effort to save their client's life, state attorneys for Jerome Campbell want a new trial for the convicted killer.

Two weeks before the state is scheduled to execute Campbell, assistant Ohio public defenders Joseph E. Wilhelm and Pamela J. Prude-Smithers filed a motion Thursday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court asking for a new trial.

Campbell, 41, was convicted and sentenced to die for stabbing Henry Turner to death Christmas Eve morning 1988.

In the motion, the public defenders say new DNA evidence shows blood found on Campbell's shoes was his own, a fact that should be considered because whose blood was on the shoes was ambiguous during the trial.

Campbell's attorneys made the same arguments last week during a clemency hearing in Columbus.

Prosecutors say the DNA evidence is irrelevant. They say blood was never a key part of the case. Instead, they said, eyewitnesses, inmates who heard Campbell confess to killing Turner and fingerprints near the victim's door and on a hallway light bulb were the evidence jurors used to convict Campbell.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen also pointed out that the conviction was upheld during the many appeals Campbell made over the last 14 years.

Allen is scheduled to file his opposition to the motion Monday. Campbell's attorneys will then have a chance to respond.

A hearing on the motion will be held Wednesday before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Charles J. Kubicki.

Campbell's attorneys filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court last week asking for a stay on the execution. The court has not yet ruled on the motion.

The Ohio Parole Board is expected to make a recommendation to Gov. Bob Taft today about whether Campbell should be granted clemency. The decision to grant or refuse clemency is up to the governor.

E-mail sturco@enquirer.com