Few Death Sentences In Franklin Cty
06/23/2008 05:52:06
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Death penalty cases were once common in Franklin County, though death sentences were not.
Without acknowledging a problem obtaining the punishment, the county's veteran prosecutor has quietly scaled back the number of capital indictments he has sought in recent years.
According to data collected by the Ohio Public Defender's Office, the county that led the state in death penalty cases in 2004 -- with 34 -- had just three capital cases last year.
Prosecutor Ron O'Brien says that in the past his office focused only on the elements that make a case eligible for a death penalty.
O'Brien is a Republican serving his third four-year term. He says he now believes that the death penalty should be for the worst of the worst offenders.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV-06-23-08 0130EDT
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