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| Inmate Won't Ask For Clemency |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/09/2006 |
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An Ohio man scheduled to die next month for raping and murdering two women 20 years ago says he won't ask Gov. Bob Taft for clemency. Condemned inmate Glenn Benner says he doesn't believe the clemency process takes into consideration whether an inmate has changed in prison. "I know that I have changed, and I am now a new person, but sadly I am unable to change the past, so there does not seem to be point (sic) in participating in such a hearing," Benner said in a Dec. 28 letter to Michael Collyer, a state assistant attorney general. Benner also says he doesn't want to cause further pain to the families of his victims. "I just want them to know that I will do nothing personally to add to their pain," Benner said in the letter, which was also sent to members of the Ohio Parole Board. Taft said last week he was not familiar with Benner or his case. When considering clemency, "We look at all factors in a very comprehensive way," Taft said. "The inmate's conduct while in prison, the extent of remorse for the crime, in addition to the circumstances and the evidence." Benner was "justly tried and convicted of the brutal rapes and murders of two young women," said Petro spokeswoman Kim Norris. Since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, the parole board has recommended clemency just once, for Jerome Campbell, a Cincinnati man convicted of stabbing to death a man who'd befriended him. In 2003, Taft set aside Campbell's death sentence over concerns about evidence presented to jurors. Benner, 43, of Summit County, has been on death row since 1986 for the killings that took place during a five-month stretch in 1985 and 1986. Benner's execution is set for Feb. 7 and his attorney says she expects it to proceed. He would become the 20th man executed in Ohio since 1999, when Ohio resumed carrying out executions. Benner was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Cynthia Sedgwick, 26, in August 1985 in woods at the Blossom Music Center near Akron where she had attended a concert. Benner also was convicted of raping and murdering a friend, 21-year-old Trina Bowser, in Akron in January 1986. Bowser's body was found in the trunk of her burning car in January 1986, according to the Supreme Court document. Benner was also convicted of raping and trying to kill two other women in the months between those killings. |
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