A lawsuit claims that Ohio has an unwritten policy of denying release to death row inmates who were re-sentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Ohio鈥檚 death penalty in 1978.
The Ohio Justice and Policy Center and the ACLU of Ohio have filed suit for Patricia Wernert and George Clayton, who were resentenced after the 1978 ruling to 20 years to life with a chance at parole. They鈥檝e both been in prison for more than 40 years and been repeatedly denied parole.
The ACLU of Ohio鈥檚 Legal Director, David Carey, says Wernert and Clayton haven鈥檛 gotten fair hearings.
鈥淭he Ohio Parole Board has an automatic rule of denying people in this category. Essentially if you haven鈥檛 gotten paroled by now and you are in this category of people who was re-sentenced after 1978, then you are not going to get paroled," Carey says.
Carey says the board鈥檚 unwritten policy basically converts their sentences into life without the possibility of parole. It asks the Franklin County Common Pleas Court to give inmates in this category new parole hearings.
You can read the lawsuit
