Gov. Bob Taft granted clemency to Jerome Campbell....

Gov. Bob Taft granted clemency to Jerome Campbell. Campbell is the 1st death row inmate to receive clemency in 12 years. Taft has turned down 9 requests for clemency since he took office in 1999. Taft, acting hours after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Campbell's bid for a new trial, followed the recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board, which ruled 6-2 in favor of clemency on May 2. Campbell, 42, was scheduled to be executed on Friday. He had been convicted of aggravated murder for stabbing John Henry Turner, 78, in 1988. Governor Bob Taft issued the following statement: After fully considering the clemency request of Jerome Campbell, the report and recommendation of clemency by the Ohio Parole Board, letters from individual Ohioans, the arguments presented by Mr. Campbell's legal counsel and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, and a summary of the proceedings in this case, I have decided to commute the sentence of Jerome Campbell to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case of Jerome Campbell presents a different set of circumstances than the other eight capital cases in which I have denied requests for commutation. In this case, two important pieces of information have come to light that were not available to the jury at the time the death penalty was imposed. First, Mr. Campbell presented significant new DNA evidence that was not available to the jury at the time of trial. Although this new evidence does not exonerate Mr. Campbell, it does contradict an impression that was left in the minds of some jurors during the trial. Second, attorneys for Mr. Campbell have presented evidence bearing on the credibility of 2 important prosecution witnesses. It is now apparent that 2 informants who were incarcerated at the time of their testimony were, in fact, interested in seeking more lenient treatment from prosecutors as a result of their testimony. (?) For these reasons, I concur with the decision of the Parole Board majority to commute Jerome Campbell's sentence from death to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.