USA - Ohio. Task force recommends 56 changes to Ohio's death penalty system.

Task force recommends 56 changes to Ohio's death penalty system. Judge James A. Brogan explained many of the 56 recommendations made by the Ohio Supreme Court's Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty during a public forum today organized by Ohioans to Stop Executions. Brogan, who is a former prosecutor from Montgomery County and who supports the death penalty, explained the task force developed 56 recommendations to make the death penalty in Ohio more fair. The task force, comprised of judges, prosecutors, academics, legislators and defense attorneys, met for 4 years and their formal report is expected to be released on May 20. "There has been a dissenting opinion and most of the prosecutors are opposed to many of our recommendations, and I am here to inform the local public of what we did and how important it is for the public to weigh in our recommendations with their own state representatives and their neighbors," Brogan said. Brogan said one of the more important recommendations is based on the geographic disparity of how death penalty cases are prosecuted. In 46 counties, there have been no death penalties prosecuted while in other counties there have been considerably more. "We think there should be a central committee that would review the desirability of proceeding with a death penalty prosecution so it doesn't result from the opinion of one prosecutor in one county," Brogan said. "A panel of experienced prosecutors would pass on the desirability of proceeding on a death penalty case." They also recommended setting up capital punishment litigation fund because of the disparity in compensation paid to defense attorneys. Under this plan, the state would pay the same to every appointed lawyer across the state as well as pay for experts. It would also help pay prosecutors. "Another important recommendation is all confessions be video or audio taped because there have been a number of cases where the person was exonerated after they allegedly confessed so we want to presume those are involuntary unless they are video or audio taped," Brogan said. "We also want to make sure that death penalty verdicts are based on reliable evidence." It would require 2 positive identifications and any confession would have to be collaborated by the evidence. "The hard work now is the Legislature has to decide if they even want to have hearings on these recommendations and want to introduce legislation," Brogan said. "We believe the Legislature will give it a careful examination and fair consideration.