CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTORS STATEMENT FOR BILLY SLAGLE CLEMENCY HEARING STATES NARRATIVE STATEMENT TO THE OHIO PAROLE

BOARD
Clemency Hearing Date: July 8, 2013

Respectfully submitted by: Timothy J. McGinty Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney T. Allan Regas Katherine E. Mullin Matthew E. Meyer Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Billy Slagle committed the most heinous of crimes, invading the home of Mari Anne Pope and taking her life in a manner and means most vicious. Further exacerbating the horror of his crime, he did so while two children were present in the home. While Slagle attacked and murdered the victim, the children escaped the home and alerted neighbors to call the police. The childrens brave act led to police capturing Slagle while still in the victims home, holding the pair of scissors he used to brutally end Ms. Popes life. After

trial, a jury recommended, and the trial court imposed, the death penalty. At the time, the law did not provide for a penalty of life without parole. Slagles conviction carried the death penalty, which sentence was determined appropriate on appeal to the Eighth District Court of Appeals. However, the Ohio Supreme Court was divided, with Justices Wright and Brown, dissenting from imposition of the death penalty, citing the mitigating factors of Slagles age and substance abuse. Slagle appeared before this Board in 2011, arguing the same mitigation arguments he has proposed throughout his prosecution and years of appeals. He has specifically

requested that this Board recommend that the Governor grant his clemency application and commute his sentence of death to one of life without parole. This Board unanimously recommended that the Governor deny him clemency at that time.

STATEMENT OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS POSITION ON CLEMENCY HEARINGS

The Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney has instituted a policy of review in all capital cases. This policy applies with equal force to charging decisions in new cases, as well as past convictions that resulted in a death sentence. This review is conducted under

strict standards of current law to ensure that only those aggravated murder cases so heinous and deserving that the facts and evidence have the weight to firmly and unanimously convince a jury of 12 or a judicial panel that the aggravating circumstances outweigh any and all mitigating factors beyond any reasonable doubt. Decisions will realistically consider the higher level of evidence required by state and federal appellate courts to uphold death penalty convictions than other types of crimes.

CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS REVIEW OF BILLY SLAGLES APPLICATION FOR CLEMENCY
In this case, there is no doubt that the horrific murder of Ms. Pope, a truly innocent victim, qualifies as a crime for which the death penalty might be appropriately sought. There is no doubt that Slagle is the perpetrator of this crime. Several mitigating factors, however cause concern in reviewing this case for execution. At the time of Slagles trial, Ohio law did not allow for the possibility of a sentence of life without parole for an aggravated murder conviction. A jury could impose only a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 20 years, the possibility of parole after 30 years, or death. In light of the limited sentencing options and the mitigating factors, the absence of the option of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in this case may very well have led to the imposition of the death sentence. This concern is particularly acute in Slagles case due to the presence of multiple, significant mitigating factors. In particular, Slagle was 18 years old when he committed this murder. He also had a lengthy and documented history of substance abuse. Additionally, Slagle does not have an institutional record that contains any serious infractions or reports of further violent

behavior. While in no way do these factors excuse or mitigate the crime and the need for appropriate punishment in this case, these factors would likely have led to a jury to recommend a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, had that been an option. In applying these factors under the standards of review adopted by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office, the facts of this case compel us to recommend that Slagle receive a sentence of life without the possibility of parole in this case.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Without diminishing the severity of this offense, and with the goal of providing a just and appropriate punishment, after accounting for all factors in this case, to include the facts of the crime, Slagles age, substance abuse problems, and his actions while incarcerated, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor asks this Board to reconsider its recommendation and recommend that the Governor commute Slagles sentence from death to life without the possibility of parole. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor firmly opposes any commutation that would ever lead to Slagles release.