Saturday 5 January 2008

John Spirko's life hangs in the balance


From Kevin Werner, OTSE's statewide coordinator:

ACTION ALERT:
GOVERNOR STRICKLAND NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
John Spirko's life hangs in the balance
January 3, 2008

This morning the Attorney General's office announced that no DNA
evidence could link John Spirko to the crime scene. January 24, 2008
remains an execution date for John Spirko, despite his compelling
claims of innocence.
In the 25 years, that John Spirko has been on death row - facing
seven different execution dates - there has been no physical or
forensic evidence that links John Spirko to the murder to Betty
Mottinger. After more than two years of extensive DNA testing,
Attorney General Marc Dann concluded that no DNA evidence links John
Spirko to the murder for which his execution is scheduled later this
month. In addition to no DNA evidence, there exists no credible
eyewitness linking him to crime, and John Spirko was in Toledo, Ohio
at 9:30am while Mrs. Mottinger was being abducted more than 100 miles
away in Elgin, Ohio at 8:30am on August 9, 1982. Families of murder
victims and Ohioans deserve a fair and accurate justice system, free
of wrongful convictions. Ohio must avoid the unthinkable -- execution
of the wrong man.

Contact Governor Strickland to make the difference in his decision of
life or death. The Governor needs to hear from as many Ohioans as
possible. All Ohioans believe in fairness and no one wants to see the
wrong man punished.

Contact the governor's office by e-mail, fax, telephone and regular
mail.

We want to urge the governor to grant clemency to John Spirko.

HOW TO CONTACT GOV. STRICKLAND:
If you choose to send an electronic message through e-mail, you'll
need to go to the website at www.governor.

ohio.gov and select the tab
on the right-hand side labeled 'contact us.' From this point, there
is a link to 'Constituent Affairs' on the right-hand side of the page
where you are given an option to contact the Governor. If you choose
this option, make sure you keep your message to under 5000 words.

If you choose to call the governor's office, dial the number for
constituent issues, not the general information line, at
614-644-4357. If you speak to a person, let him/her know that you're
calling to urge the Governor to grant clemency for John Spirko. Leave
your name and let them know where you're calling from.

If you choose to fax your message, send it to 614-466-9354 with the
subject line 'Clemency for Spirko.'

The Governor's mailing address is:
Governor's Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 S. High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108
____________________________________

SAMPLE STATEMENTS/MESSAGES

A sample e-mail message might be the following:

January 3, 2008

Dear Governor Strickland,

My name is Kevin Werner and I live in Cincinnati. I urge you to grant
clemency to John Spirko and spare his life. Earlier today the attorney
general announced that there was no DNA evidence that could link
Spirko to the crime scene. Please make the right decision for all
Ohioans and grant clemency.

Sincerely,

Kevin Werner
____________________________________

A sample phone call might be the following:

Hello, my name is Kevin Werner and I'm calling from Cincinnati. I
wanted to express to the governor that I want him to grant clemency
to John Spirko.
This is a very important issue to me. Thank you and please give
Governor Strickland my message.

Thank you for responding to this urgent action alert. Please pass this
message along to friends and family members that also want to see
Ohio stop executions. We are asking for clemency because it may take
the form of a pardon, reprieve or commutation.
For more info on clemency, visit the Ohio Public Defender's website
http://www.opd.ohio.gov/Clemency/Clem_App_mainpage.html

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