Death penalty cases are moving through the state legal system more quickly largely because a 1994 constitutional amendment eliminated a layer of appeals and a 1995 state law streamlined challenges based on claims of inadequate representation by attorneys. The Ohio Supreme Court also applied pressure in 1997 by requiring lower courts to submit quarterly status reports on death-penalty cases. It may be you construct a four-lane, divided highway in state court which narrows down to a country lane in federal court,'' Bodiker said. Some knots in the legal system have been untangled, but many remain. Montgomery's report cites nine cases in state courts and six in federal courts on the watch list because of unusually long delays.
None are central Ohio cases.
Kinley's case has been stuck in Clark County Common Pleas Court for two years. The appeal was dismissed, but the judge failed to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law, preventing the order from becoming final. Alton Coleman made Montgomery's list because his case inexplicably stalled in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Coleman and his girlfriend, Debra Brown, went on a multistate killing spree between May 29 and July 13, 1984.