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PETITION  FOR CLEMENCY FOR JEROME HENDERSON

 

To:            Governor Bob Taft                                              Fax:   614.466.9354

            77 South High Street, 30th Floor

            Columbus, OH 43215-6117

 

            We, the undersigned, urge you to stop the execution of JEROME HENDERSON, scheduled for December 5, 2006.

            Mr. Henderson has consistently maintained that he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.  DNA evidence, not available at trial, might have led the jury to decide differently.  Mr. Henderson has asked for additional time to permit the Office of the Ohio Public Defender further to investigate and litigate his claims of innocence.  Mr. Henderson’s attorney has asked for the sentence to be reduced from death to life.

            Mr. Henderson is one of the death-sentenced prisoners who is challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection procedure.  Judge Frost apparently believed that Mr. Henderson should be granted a stay but felt unable to grant it due to a recent ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that provided no explanation.

            Considering all of these circumstances, we urge you to give Mr. Henderson more time to prove his innocence or, at least, to postpone the execution until after the lethal injection lawsuit has been finally decided.

 

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