Wednesday, February 17, 1999

Taft faces life-or-death decision

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Victim's kin want no mercy for 'mad dog'

BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

Wilford Lee Berry

        COLUMBUS — The governor's minister is pleading for mercy. The victim's family is demanding justice.

        With three days left before convicted killer Wilford Lee Berry Jr. is to be executed, Gov. Bob Taft is facing one of the first major decisions of his administration.

        Mr. Taft, a Republican who supports capital punishment, isn't saying anything publicly about a plea to commute Mr. Berry's sentence to life in prison. But he told a group of lawmakers Tuesday that he continues to “wrestle with his conscience.”

        “I really don't think he has made a decision,” said Sen. Mark Mallory, D-Cincinnati, who led a group of 14 legislators opposed to the death penalty. “He said he's still got a lot of soul-searching to do.”

PROTEST VIGILS The Rev. Clement Burns of St. Gertrude Church in Madeira takes part in a vigil Tuesday. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

Tristate residents who oppose the death penalty are holding three more local prayer vigils this week: • 6:15 p.m. today at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, 810 Neeb Road, Delhi Township. Information: 421-3131. • 8 p.m. prayer service Thursday at Faith United Church of Christ, 6886 Salem Road, Mount Washington. Information: 231-8285. • 8 p.m. vigil Friday at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1809 Rutland Road, Evanston. Information: 241-0490. • The American Friends Service Committee and Ohioans To Stop Execution have an execution update hot line, (888) 565-4410, with information on events statewide. Ohioans To Stop Execution also has a Web site with updated information on the Berry case at www.otse.org.

        A few hours before Mr. Taft met with the lawmakers, he took a call from Richard Bowler, the brother-in-law of the man Mr. Berry murdered during a 1989 robbery.

        In an interview, Mr. Bowler said the governor didn't give any indication about his position on Mr. Berry's case.

        “I consider Berry to be a mad dog,” Mr. Bowler said. “The way you deal with mad dogs is you destroy them.”

        Mr. Berry should be granted his wish to die instead of spending life in prison, Mr. Bowler told the governor. Years of appeals brought by defense attorneys against Mr. Berry's wishes have left the victim's family both angry and weary, he said.

        The family of Cleveland baker Charles Mitroff has been in this position before.

        On March 3, Mr. Berry was in an armored van on its way to the death house at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility outside Lucasville when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the scheduled execution.

        “We've given up our right for a private revenge,” Mr. Bowler said. “Now it's up to the state to enforce the law.

        “If they don't, they're telling us that Chuck's life is much less valuable than Berry's.”

        Before Mr. Berry can become the first person executed in Ohio since 1963, the federal courts must again decide whether he is mentally competent to drop his appeals.

        Defense attorneys argue Mr. Berry suffered brain damage during a September 1997 death row riot that rendered him incompetent.

        The case is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati. The same three-judge panel temporarily delayed Mr. Berry's execution last year — hours before he was scheduled to die — but later rejected arguments similar to those being made today.

        While judges consider the case, Mr. Taft has met with both opponents and proponents of capital punishment. The governor's office also has received nearly 3,000 letters and 717 telephone messages asking him to grant clemency, along with about 70 letters and 49 calls favoring execution.

        The governor's Columbus minister, the Rev. Richard Wing, told The Cincinnati Enquirer last month he would join other religious leaders urging Mr. Taft to spare Mr. Berry's life.

SUNDAY REPORT

• Execution nears for 'Volunteer' • Rules set out death procedure, down to last detail • Pressure grows for Taft to halt execution • Berry case timeline

        Lawmakers who met with Mr. Taft said Ohio should not resume executions by killing a man whose life has been marked by schizophrenia, delusions and suicide attempts dating back to childhood.

        In addition to Mr. Mallory, the group included Reps. Sam Britton, D-Cincinnati; Catherine Barrett, D-Forest Park; and Dale Van Vyven, R-Sharonville.

        “We didn't make that request because we don't feel the pain or suffering of the victim of Mr. Berry,” Mr. Mallory said. “We don't feel the state of Ohio should execute mentally ill, mentally incompetent people.”

        One adviser Mr. Taft hasn't talked to about the Berry case is Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, chief sponsor of the 1981 law reinstating the death penalty in Ohio.

        Mr. Finan released a statement last week urging the execution to go forward.

        “He knows where I am on this,” Mr. Finan said. “There's nothing more to say.”

Minister confident heaven awaits Berry

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