Court upholds death sentence for Danny Lee Hill wfmj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wfmj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Killer Jacob LaRosa never faced the death penalty in his brutal slaying of his kind-hearted, elderly neighbor, but at least his family could take solace in knowing LaRosa’s conviction and sentencing meant he would never, ever again be free.
That is, until legislators recently passed a new retroactive law requiring that all juvenile offenders someday get a chance at parole. The grandson of LaRosa’s victim, 94-year-old Marie Belcastro, is right to be enraged by what he calls a “miscarriage of justice.”
Senate Bill 256 took effect earlier this month decreeing that just about anybody in prison for life who committed murder as a juvenile must be given a chance at parole.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com
Staff photo / Guy Vogrin
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins thumbs through the case file of convicted killer Kenneth Biros who was executed in December 2009.
Now that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has instructed lawmakers to choose a different method, local prosecutors are taking offense to the governor’s “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment in the state.
DeWine last week said it’s “pretty clear” there won’t be any executions in 2021, and he doesn’t think there is enough support in the Legislature to prioritize a switch in the execution method.
Ohio has an “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment, DeWine said. Yet some states and the federal government have managed to execute inmates successfully this year.
Now that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has instructed lawmakers to choose a different method, local prosecutors are taking offense to the governor’s “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment in the state.
DeWine last week said it’s “pretty clear” there won’t be any executions in 2021, and he doesn’t think there is enough support in the Legislature to prioritize a switch in the execution method.
Ohio has an “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment, DeWine said. Yet some states and the federal government have managed to successfully execute inmates this year.
According to figures provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, six executions were scheduled in Ohio for 2021. Right now there are eight people on death row from Trumbull County cases, and three from Mahoning County cases.