The state parole board has voted 10-2 to recommend to Gov. Kasich that Ronald Phillips of Akron be put to death on schedule next month for the rape and murder of his girlfriend’s toddler daughter in 1993.
The parole board’s report notes the killing of a three-year-old is among the worst of the worst capital crimes, and that testimony they heard about the abusive home Ronald Phillips was raised in didn’t indicate how much abuse he personally suffered.
But two parole board members say they’re concerned about conflicting testimony of two doctors about the sexual assault before Sheila Marie Evans’ death. Kasich could still commute Phillips’ sentence to life in prison.
Phillips would be the first person put to death in Ohio in almost three years if he is executed. But it seems unlikely to happen on January 12.
The legal battle over the state’s plans to use a never-before-tried combination of three drugs for lethal injection is just beginning.
