Condemned Man Granted Temporary Reprieve
Death Penalty Opponents See Opportunity for Change in Ruling
BY BILL LASCHER

Faced with execution for the 1984 murder of a Cleveland delicatessen owner during an attempted robbery, 49-year-old Jay D. Scott was scheduled to be the second person killed by the state of Ohio since the death penalty since 1963.
However, just over an hour before he was set to die by lethal injection Tuesday, Scott was granted a temporary reprieve by the Ohio Supreme Court in order to allow time for an investigation into his mental status, as well as to address claims that the jury that sentenced him did not receive proper instructions and were not told of his troubled childhood.
News of the reprieve revived the hopes of a growing number of individuals who have come to the support of Scott. In Lorain County, approximately 50 people — mostly from church groups — attended a vigil Tuesday night intending to mourn Scott’s death. The vigil, which was spearheaded by the Catholic Action Commission of Lorain County, concluded with participants expecting to wake the next morning to news that the execution had taken place, said junior Isa Hermsen-Weiland, one of about 10 Oberlin students who attended the vigil.
“I didn’t really think he would get the reprieve,” Hermsen-Weiland said. “I was hoping he would, but it didn’t seem too likely.”
Thursday afternoon, three students working to resuscitate the dormant Oberlin Campaign to End the Death Penalty pleaded with passing students in Wilder Bowl to sign a petition urging the Supreme Court and Ohio Governor Bob Taft to commute Scott’s sentence to life in prison. Armed with a report issued by Scott’s lawyers, John S. Pyle and Timothy F. Sweeney, both of Cleveland, they claimed that diagnoses of Scott’s schizophrenia, including those made by prison doctors, meant that the execution would have violated state and federal laws barring the execution of the mentally ill, and that Scott’s turbulent history was not adequately presented to the jury.
Additionally, the report emphasized confusing instructions that were given to the jury during the penalty phase of Scott’s trial. After Scott was convicted, the jury was told that they would have to unanimously agree on a life sentence, while this would not be necessary for a death sentence. However, the law is exactly the opposite; a jury cannot give a convicted murderer a death penalty unless it is unanimously agreed upon. Because of this, Scott’s sentence was originally overturned by the United States District Court, although it was eventually reinstated and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
On Friday, the Eighth District Appeals Court in Cleveland will review Scott’s case, followed by the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday. They will decide whether or not Scott should be re-sentenced. If not, a new execution date will be scheduled, although it is likely that that wouldn’t occur until the fall.
Meanwhile, Hermsen-Weiland said that the reprieve is a positive step. “It gives us more time to try to pressure them,” she said. 

“We are doing this because we feel right now is an especially important time,” sophomore Matthew Field said, speaking on the effects of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. In addition to the specific circumstances of Scott’s case, he said that the case has also raised issues of class and race bias in sentencing. With last week’s shooting of an unarmed black man by the Cincinnati police department and subsequent riots, racial tensions have become a major issue across the state. Some claim that this influenced the court’s decision.
“In light of the riots in Cincinnati and racial tensions it seemed timely,” said first-year Meghan Fraley, one of the students who attended the vigil. “It would possibly have angered people even more if he was executed.”
Regardless of the reason it was granted, opponents of the death penalty are encouraged by the reprieve. “The longer you keep people alive, the better the chances are,” sophomore Lynn Kaighin-Shields said. He emphasized that the environment has changed and opposition to the death penalty has grown, as evidenced by the recent decision by the government of Illinois to put a moratorium on the death penalty in that state.
“I think the climate is changing,” Kaighin-Shields said. “I’m more inclined to be excited because this is an opportunity to work for change.”