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Parole Board Rejects Clemency For Slagle

The Ohio Parole Board has recommended against clemency for a death row inmate convicted of killing a woman in her home in 1987. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.

In a 6 to 4 vote, the Ohio Parole Board ruled Billy Slagle should be executed as planned on August 7th.  Slagle’s attorneys argued he was abused as a child, was on drugs and alcohol at the time of the killing but has been a well behaved prisoner for the past 25 years.  The attorneys argued Slagle’s Native American Mother’s relocation to Cleveland from a reservation in 1960 caused intergenerational trauma. They also said there are problems with the way his trial was handled and added it’s not severe enough to warrant the death penalty.  But prosecutors said Slagle had proper treatment in court.  They also contended the murder Slagle committed was brutal enough to qualify for the death penalty since he was convicted of stabbing Mari Anne Pope 17 times in a botched burglary at her home.  The majority of the parole board found the intergenerational trauma argument unpersuasive.  And they said the killing was brutal enough to qualify for the death penalty.  It’s now up to Governor Kasich to decide whether to accept the parole board’s recommendation or to grant clemency to Slagle anyway.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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