Ohio Death Penalty Appeals, Amendment 1 (1994)

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The Ohio Death Penalty Appeals Amendment, also known as Amendment 1, was on the November 8, 1994 ballot in Ohio as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, where it was approved. The measure changed the procedure in Ohio for appeals of cases in which the death penalty is imposed. Prior to the approval of Amendment 1, appeals of death penalty convictions were made to the intermediate appellate court in Ohio. Amendment 1 changed that so that appeals of death penalty cases go directly to the Ohio Supreme Court.[1][2]

Election results

Ohio Amendment 1 (1994)
ResultVotesPercentage
Approveda Yes 2,199,791 70.14%
No936,32329.86%

Election results via: Cleveland Marshall College of Law

Text of measure

See also: Ohio Constitution, Article VIII, Section 2 and Section 3

The language appeared on the ballot as:[3]

“
Proposed Constitutional Amendment

To amend Sections 2 and 3 of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Ohio

To change the procedure for appeals of cases in which the death penalty is imposed, this amendment will:

  1. Remove jurisdiction from the courts of appeals to review death penalty cases on direct appeal.
  2. Provide for direct appeals of death penalty cases to the Ohio Supreme Court from the courts of common pleas or other courts of record inferior to the court of appeals.
  3. Apply to cases in which the death penalty is imposed for offenses committed on or after January 1, 1995.

If adopted, this amendment will be effective January 1, 1995.

Shall the proposed amendment be adopted? [4]

”

Support

The official voter guide arguments for Amendment 1 were signed by:

The main argument they made in the voter guide was:

"Ohioans should vote in favor of Issue 1 because it is a reasonable step toward reforming our criminal justice system. Too often criminals are allowed to manipulate and exploit our judicial process through endless appeals that take years to review. Meanwhile, the families of victims wait for final justice to be administered. Unfortunately, many families are still waiting. Support for Issue 1 is support for these families."[3]

Opposition

The official voter guide arguments against Amendment 1 were signed by:

  • Mary Abel
  • J. Donald Mottley
  • Vernon Sykes
  • Ben E. Espy
  • Mearle Kearns[3]

The main arguments they made in the voter guide were:

  • "It will not significantly shorten the time between a sentence of death and execution."
  • "It increases the risk that an innocent person will be executed."[3]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, "Ohio Constitution: Table of Proposed Amendments," accessed July 8, 2015
  2. ↑ State Library of Ohio, "Proposed constitutional amendments, initiated legislation and laws challenged by referendum, submitted to the electors," accessed July 8, 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Toledo Blade, "Proposed Constitutional Amendments," October 25, 1994
  4. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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