Ohio's 2nd death row exoneration in 9 months, nation's 141st

Michael Keenan

After 24 years of imprisonment, Michael Keenan is the 2nd man in 9 months to be exonerated from Ohio's death row. Judge Russo dismissed all charges against Mr. Keenan this morning, making Mr. Keenan the 7th exoneree from Ohio and the nation's 141st death row exoneration.

Mr. Keenan was 1st tried, convicted and sentenced to death for his alleged role to the murder of Tony Klann in 1988. His conviction was overturned in 1994 and again in 2012 due to prosecutorial misconduct. Most recently, a federal court ruled in April 2012 that Mr. Keenan must be retried or freed in light of potentially exculpatory evidence hidden from Keenan at the time of his trial.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors elected to conduct a 3rd trial against Mr. Keenan but removed the death penalty in an effort to coax Keenan into taking a plea deal. Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions said, "Ohio's track record of making these kinds of mistakes is both troubling and a sharp reminder that our state routinely sends people to death row for crimes they did not commit. This is completely unacceptable."

6 other innocent men have been freed from death row in Ohio.

Talking Points:

--Michael Keenan is the second man released from Ohio's death row in nine months. His wrongful conviction demonstrates Ohio has big problems with fairness and accuracy in its death penalty system.

--Ohioans don't want people being executed for crimes they did not commit. Even for those who support death penalty, Ohio's undisputed track record shakes the public's confidence that our system gets it right when life and death hang in the balance.

--The 7 men who have been freed from death row spent a combined 127 years imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. That doesn't sound like a death penalty system that's being administered properly.

--Mr. Keenan's case shows Ohio's death penalty system risks executing innocence people.

--When misconduct within a prosecutor's office goes unchecked, as it did in Cuyahoga County for 25 years, practices that lead to wrongful convictions are allowed to continue. Yet another example of practices that send innocent people to death row.

Source: OTSE, Sept. 6, 2012

Michael Keenan freed, murder charge from 24 years ago dismissed by Cuyahoga County judge

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County judge this morning dismissed a 24-year-old murder charge against Michael Keenan, who had spent about two decades on death row with co-defendant Joe D'Ambrosio.

The decision was a dramatic change of events from Wednesday, when it appeared that Keenan was prepared to plead to involuntary manslaughter charges in order to be released from prison right away.

Judge John Russo set bond at $5,000 today, essentially allowing Keenan to be freed immediately.

Keenan was prepared to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday for the 1988 slaying of Tony Klann if he could walk out of the Justice Center a free man.

But the proposed plea deal with county prosecutors hit a snag when Keenan balked at the prospect of spending five years under supervised release with regular visits to a parole officer.

So prosecutors and defense lawyers resumed their negotiations.

Keenan, 62, was twice convicted of killing Klann in 1988 in Cleveland's Rockefeller Park. D'Ambrosio, who also was convicted of killing Klann, was freed in 2009 after a federal judge determined that evidence that could have exonerated him had been withheld from his trial attorneys.

Another federal judge ruled in April that Keenan had to be tried again or have his verdict set aside.

Both Keenan and D'Ambrosio spent many years on death row, always professing their innocence.

A Catholic priest who befriended D'Ambrosio in prison and was convinced of his innocence worked with lawyers to uncover evidence favorable to both defendants that had been withheld by county prosecutors at trial.

That evidence included police statements that concluded Klann could not have been killed at Doan Brook, as the prosecutors' only eyewitness to the killing claimed.

Eddie Espinoza, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Klann's death and was given a reduced sentence, claimed that Keenan slit Klann's throat and D'Ambrosio stabbed him in the chest.

The withheld evidence also included information that the man who led police to Keenan, D'Ambrosio and Espinoza, had a possible motive for killing Klann.

Keenan's new trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 31, but he's now a free man.

Source: The Plain Dealer, September 6, 2012