Ohio botches another murder

This past Wednesday, the state of Ohio attempted to murder Alva Campbell, a 69 year-old who's been on death row since 1997. And, once again, they fucked it up.

On a walk-through of the execution conducted on Monday, prison nurses were unable  to find a functioning vein during a walk-through on Monday. And before I go any further let me say that I can't think of too many things that could be more cruel than making an inmate participate in a dry run of his own execution. The very fact they go through this charade should tell you everything you need to know about why state-sanctioned killing should be abolished.

But when it came time to murder Mr. Campbell, suddenly not one nurse could find a vein. They tried in both arms. They tried his leg. But they couldn't find a suitable vein to pump poison into Mr. Campbell's body.

As another aside, each one of the nurses who participated in either the walk-through or the actual execution attempt should be stripped of their licenses. I don't care how much you may want the money, aiding in the murder of another person is a violation of oath you took when you became a nurse.

After 45 minutes of agony the Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Gary Mohr, called off the execution. My only question to Mr. Mohr is how come it took so long to realize you needed to call it off?

And, while I'm waiting for that answer, maybe someone can explain to me what greater purpose is served by executing an elderly man for a crime that took place 20 years ago.

Murdering an inmate is not a function of rehabilitation and it certainly has nothing to do with correcting behavior. Maybe Ohio should add "and Revenge" into the name of the department.

Gov. John Kasich, who had the opportunity to do the right thing, instead rescheduled the execution for June 5, 2019. Maybe he's thinking Mr. Campbell will make life easier for him and die between now and then.

I'm still waiting...

Winning at all costs?

Cuyahoga County (OH) prosecutor Bill Mason really, really wants to win. He wants to win so much that he has neglected the first ethical rule of a prosecutor -- to see that justice is done.

“I see myself as someone holding people accountable for their actions.” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason

Over the past ten years, Mr. Mason's office has tried 6,891 felony cases. Out of those cases, county judges acquitted 341 defendants in the middle of trial. Why? Because the prosecutor's office wasn't able to prove their was even probable cause to arrest the defendants.

Mr. Mason came into office in 1999 as the reformer. He said that when he took over the office too many felony cases were being plead out by inexperienced prosecutors. His solution? Take away the authority for the courtroom prosecutors to work out their cases. All pleas would have to go through a handful of supervisors who had to answer to Mr. Mason.

U.S. District Judge Kate O’Malley wrote that Mason’s office showed a “startling indifference” to the defendant’s rights and then bluntly reminded Mason about his duty as prosecutor by quoting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:

“It’s the easiest thing in the world for people trained in the adversarial ethic to think a prosecutor’s job is simply to win.”

But it’s not, O’Malley wrote: A prosecutor’s job is to seek justice.

Stripping away the power to resolve cases in the courtroom reduces prosecutors to clerks. If you don't trust your people in the courtroom to make good decisions, then you've got some major issues. These are the folks you're relying upon to try cases -- if they're competent to try the case, then they must be competent enough to know whether a case needs to go to trial.

This can't look good on a resume

What does one do when you're the top law enforcement official in the county and the driver of the car in which you are riding is stopped and arrested for driving while intoxicated? Why, if you're the top law enforcement official in the county would you allow your campaign manager to get behind the wheel of the car drunk? Why would you get in the passenger seat?

Cuyahoga County (OH) Prosecutor Bill Mason is stuck trying to answer those questions after it was revealed that he was a passenger in a car driven by his friend and campaign manager Tom Regas earlier this month.

Mr. Regas was arrested for DWI after allegedly failing a battery of coordination exercises administered by police. Mr. Regas also declined to take a breath test. When asked how much he had to drink, Mr. Regas said he drank "several" glasses of wine. He said Mr. Mason had consumed about the same amount as he did.

In what must have been some sort of an oversight, the arresting officer failed to note that the County Prosecutor was a passenger. Another officer was kind enough to drive Mr. Mason home and drop off the councilman's car at his house.

Rumors are circulating that Mr. Mason will resign his post under pressure from MADD.