APNewsBreak: Ohio parole board recommends mercy for condemned inmate who strangled girlfriend

APNewsBreak: Ohio board votes for mercy for inmate

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Parole Board recommended clemency Tuesday for a condemned inmate scheduled to die next month for strangling his live-in girlfriend, in a rare gesture of mercy from the panel.

The board ruled 4-3 in favor of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for death row prisoner Richard Nields, scheduled to die June 10, according to a copy of the decision obtained by The Associated Press.

Nields, 59, killed Patricia Newsome during a 1997 argument in suburban Cincinnati.

In its decision, the board questioned the validity of medical evidence used at Nields’ trial that helped support a death sentence. The ruling is only a recommendation for Gov. Ted Strickland, who has the final say.

Dr. Paul Shrode, then training in a medical fellowship at the Hamilton County coroner’s office, testified at Nields’ 1997 trial that bruising on the victim proved Nields beat his girlfriend, then returned 15 minutes later to strangle her to death.

But the deputy coroner who supervised Shrode at the time told the parole board Shrode’s conclusions were not supported by science.

Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf, then a deputy coroner, said there was no scientific evidence to support how old the bruises on Newsome’s body were.

Nields’ attorneys argued that Shrode, a recent medical school graduate who had not yet completed his coroner’s fellowship, was not as experienced as Pfalzgraf but was chosen by prosecutors over Pfalzgraf to testify at trial.

A message was left for Shrode, now the El Paso County, Texas, medical examiner, seeking comment.

The board also cited concerns by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Nields’ death sentence barely fit the definition of capital punishment under Ohio law.

The board also cited a judge’s dissent in a 2001 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court that upheld Nields’ death sentence.

Justice Paul Pfeifer, who helped write Ohio’s death penalty law as a state legislator in 1981, wrote that Nields’ crime was not what lawmakers considered as a case eligible for the death penalty when creating the law.

“Members give significant weight to Justice Pfeifer’s opinion in that he was a member of the Ohio General Assembly in 1981, and was one of the leading forces who helped write and enact Ohio’s current death penalty statute,” the ruling said.

Three members voted against clemency, pointing out that Nields had often threatened his girlfriend in the past. They also said the fact that he took Newsome’s car, money and travelers’ checks constituted aggravated robbery, an additional crime that made Nields eligible for death.

The dissenting board members also said Nields had a history of violence against women and tried to mislead police as they investigated Newsome’s death.

“Given all of these facts, we do not believe that the outcome of the case would have been any different had the court and jury heard more reliable medical testimony,” the dissenting members said.

Strickland, a Democrat, last year rejected a ruling by the board to grant clemency to a condemned inmate whose coconspirators did not receive death sentences.

Messages were left for Strickland and the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, which argued against clemency.