8 inmates Join Lethal Injection Challenge Lawsuit

Summit County man on death row is among 28 condemned prisoners fighting against Ohio process

Published on Saturday, Feb 16, 2008

Associated Press


COLUMBUS: A judge has allowed eight additional Ohio death row inmates — including one from Summit County — to join a
federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection procedures.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost said in a ruling Friday the inmates fall within a deadline for joining the lawsuit. The
ruling brings to 28 the number of condemned inmates challenging the injection process, or about 15 percent of the 185 inmates
on death row.

Because an appeals court has ruled differently on the deadline issue, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide that matter before
inmates can argue about constitutional matters.

The inmates are Michael Turner (Franklin County), Melvin Bonnell (Cuyahoga County), Maurice Mason (Marion County),
Michael Beuke (Hamilton County), Michael Benge (Butler County), Richard Nields (Hamilton County), Roderick Davie (Trumbull
County) and Brett Hartman (Summit County).

Hartman is on Ohio's death row for killing Wanda Snipes, a 41-year-old hotel cook, in September 1997.

http://www.ohio.com/news/ohio/15695812.html






6th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision


US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Brett Hartman conviction and death sentence
A three-judge panel (Daughtrey, Gilman, Clay) of the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the conviction
and death sentence of Ohio death row inmate Brett Hartman, rejecting claims of ineffective assistance of counsel
(on the merits), improper jury instructions, prosecutorial misconduct, and insufficient evidence to support a capital
specification.  Judge Clay dissented in part and would have voided the death sentence and remanded the case for a
new sentencing hearing because of ineffective assistance of counsel in presenting mitigation evidence at the trial
sentencing phase, and because of improper "aquittal first" jury instructions.

Opinion is here (28-page pdf).








Brett's case went in front of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on January 31st, 2007

We have included the audio file of that hearing for those of you who were unable to attend.
Because of time limits and laws pertaining to what can be presented in "this court", not all areas of Brett's case
were presented at this hearing.
We apologize for the quality, this is what has been provided to us.
Buffering may depend on your Internet connection and computer abilities. This runs approximately 54 minutes.
6 th Circuit Court Of Appeals
Where Brett's Case Stands