COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 26 (UPI) -- Ohio Gov. Bob Taft Thursday granted the first death row clemency of his administration and the first in Ohio in more than a decade.
Taft commuted Friday's scheduled execution of Jerome Campbell to life in prison without parole.
Campbell was convicted of the 1988 aggravated stabbing murder of John Henry Turner, 78, in Cincinnati.
The governor said he took the action because of new evidence that was not available to the jury at the time the death penalty was ordered.
Taft said Campbell's lawyers presented significant new DNA evidence that, although not exonerating Campbell, contradicts an impression that was left in the minds of some jurors during the trial.
The governor also noted new information indicating two prosecution witnesses who testified against Campbell were actually more interested in seeking lenient treatment as a result of their testimony than getting to the truth.
Taft said had the DNA and other new information been available to jurors, they might have returned a different sentence.
