paper: a top Ohio state attorney lied to parole board,death penalty case

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-19/112512186166540.xml&storylist=cleveland

8/27/2005, 1:30 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — A top attorney for the state misrepresented evidence before the Ohio Parole Board in an effort to deny clemency to a death row inmate, a newspaper reported Saturday.

John Spirko, 59, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 20 for the 1982 murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, 48, who was in charge of the post office in Elgin in northwest Ohio.

In his presentation to the parole board Tuesday, Senior Deputy Ohio Attorney General Tim Prichard made false statements and mischaracterized evidence regarding what Spirko knew about the murder and his whereabouts on the day of the killing, The Plain Dealer reported.

Prichard denied making misstatements and said it was Spirko's lawyers who should be confronted for "flat-out lies" to the board...