The state parole board has voted 11-1 to recommend Gov. John Kasich deny clemency to Alva Campbell Jr., the next inmate scheduled to be executed in Ohio. The recommendation follows the clemency hearing for Campbell last week.
Public defender David Stebbins told the parole board Campbell’s upbringing included some of the worst abuse he’s ever heard, and that the defense didn’t fully present that to the jury.
“These gaps were filled with inaccurate narratives that were used to justify Alva’s death sentence.”
Campbell, who was convicted of a 1972 murder, carjacked and killed 18-year-old Charles Dials during an attempted escape from the Franklin County courthouse in 1997. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien tried the case.
“I will tell you this: Mr. Campbell is the most violent criminal, without question, of any case I have worked on.”
One member of the parole board agreed with Stebbins, but the rest recommended against clemency. Campbell has admitted guilt, but his attorneys are also arguing he’s too sick to lie flat on the execution table.
