Few On Death Row Are Spared ; Spirko Is Only the Second in Ohio Since 1999.

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COLUMBUS -- Death row inmate John G. Spirko Jr. won a rare victory Wednesday when Gov. Ted Strickland used his constitutional powers to commute Spirko's death sentence to life in prison without parole.

Spirko and inmate Jerome Campbell are the only two Ohio prisoners to have their death sentences commuted to life without parole by governors since the state resumed executions in 1999. Since then, 26 men have been executed by lethal injection, including two last year on Strickland's watch.

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Few On Death Row Are Spared ; Spirko Is Only the Second in Ohio Since 1999.

In 1991, shortly before leaving office, then-Gov. Richard Celeste commuted the sentences for eight inmates -- four me...

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