21 May 2010 :

In a rare gesture, the Ohio Parole Board recommended clemency for Richard Nields, sentenced to die June 10 for strangling his live-in girlfriend. The board ruled 4-3 in favor of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for Nields. Nields, 59, white, killed Patricia Newsome during a March 27, 1997 argument. In its decision, the board questioned the validity of medical evidence used at Nields' trial that helped support a death sentence. Dr. Paul Shrode, then training in a medical fellowship at the Hamilton County coroner's office, testified at Nields' 1997 trial that bruising on the victim proved Nields beat his girlfriend, then returned 15 minutes later to strangle her. But the deputy coroner who supervised Shrode at the time told the parole board that Shrode's conclusions were not supported by science. Dr. Robert Pfalzgraf, then a deputy coroner, said there was no scientific evidence to support how old the bruises on Newsome's body were. Nields' attorneys argued that Shrode, a recent medical school graduate who had not yet completed his coroner's fellowship, was not as experienced as Pfalzgraf but was chosen by prosecutors over Pfalzgraf to testify at trial. The ruling is only a recommendation for Gov. Ted Strickland, who has the final say. The state has executed 14 men since Strickland, a Democrat, took office in 2007. Of those cases, the parole board twice recommended mercy. Strickland followed the board's recommendation in one case (that of Jeffrey D. Hill, see Feb. 12, 2009) and overruled its finding in the other, allowing Jason Getsy to be executed (see Aug. 18, 2009).