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Death Row Inmate Argues Ohio's Death Penalty Remains Unconstitutional

DRC

A convicted killer is claiming that since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s capital punishment sentencing law in 2016, Ohio’s death penalty law is now unconstitutional.

He claims the ruling that a jury must sentence a defendant to death makes Ohio’s two-part sentencing process illegal.

Maurice Mason was convicted of raping and killing Robin Dennis in Marion in 1993. His attorney Kort Gatterdam told the Ohio Supreme Court that because juries recommend death sentences but judges then review and impose them, that makes Ohio’s law unconstitutional.

“It’s not simply saying that there can be no death penalty in Ohio. It’s saying that the jury has to make the decision, and there has to be a rewrite of the statute.”

But Marion County Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Collins said, while judges review jury recommendations, they can only lesson the penalty not increase it. He says that protects the offender.

“It’s just, it’s proper, and it is constitutional.”

Mason’s death sentence was overturned by a federal court; he’s now challenging a new sentencing hearing.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.