Glass City Jungle

When you read this from the Ohio Department of Corrections:

(Columbus) — The Ohio Parole Board will conduct a death penalty clemency hearing for inmate Vernon Smith, #288-960, on Thursday, December 3, 2009, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The hearing will be held at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) Central Office location at 770 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio.

Inmate Vernon Smith was convicted out of Lucas County for the murder of Sohail Darwish on 5/26/93.

Any media wishing to attend the clemency hearing should contact the DRC Public Information Office at (614) 752-1150, no later than Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

You don’t get the full impact of the story behind the death of Darwish, which you can get from the case file on this pro-death penalty site where it lists Vernon was originally scheduled for execution in 2000. We’ve discussed the death penalty here before, I’m not personally in support of it for a variety of reasons, including when the guilt is not certain of the murderer. That written, I’ve also taken the position that the wishes of the family of the victim should be a factor, and in this case as WTOL reports, Charlotte Darwish does not support clemency.

It does not appear there is any question in this case that Vernon Smith did shoot Sohail Darwish and he died as a result of the shooting. The case information listed online is accurate, he did shoot him on purpose, it was not accidental, though it was stated he thought he shot in him the arm. While it’s being reported he is remorseful and it’s being stated Smith was diagnosed with paranoia, depression and drug addiction, the death penalty is legal in Ohio, which leads to these discussions on cases.

It’s also been suggested that Smith did not receive a fair trial, for failing to inquire about racial bias of prospective jurors and the Blade reported:

Smith is getting some help from a former 6th District Court of Appeals judge who cast the sole dissent in the decision upholding the conviction and sentence. At the request of Smith’s attorneys, retired Judge James R. Sherck of Sandusky County submitted a letter to the parole board in which he questions whether Smith meant to kill Mr. Darwish.

That case is not available online, that I have been able to locate, but one from the 6th District Court of Appeals from 2001, is online, Judge Sherck also heard that case and there was no mention of his prior dissent.

The link to the most recent US 6th District Circuit Court decision is here where it’s also noted that Vernon Smith is using the name, Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdi.

The movie, Menace II Society, has also been referenced as a cause of the shooting:

He presented no evidence in the guilt phase. At the subsequent penalty phase, Mahdi’s presentation included testimony of a Muslim counselor that Mahdi had converted to Islam while awaiting trial and now counseled other prisoners. The counselor also testified that Mahdi had told him that the shooting had been unintentional, that Mahdi had been nervous and scared, and that the trigger had just gone off. Mahdi’s wife testified that Mahdi had been upset and nervous the evening of the shooting and for days afterward. She further testified that, when he heard on the news that Darwish was dead, Mahdi sat down and cried and told her that the murder had been an accident. Moreover, Mahdi’s wife testified that, on the afternoon before the crime, she and her husband went to see the film Menace II Society, whose opening scene depicted an interracial crime in which a black man had words with a store owner and angrily shot him. A psychologist also testified at the mitigation hearing and noted the striking parallels between the film and the crime, opining that it could not have been coincidence that Mahdi later committed a crime so similar to the one he witnessed in the film. In addition, the psychologist testified to the effects of various social and cultural factors on Mahdi, all of which, he believed, impaired Mahdi’s ability to conform his conduct to the law. The psychologist further opined that these factors combined with Mahdi’s difficult childhood caused a mental illness, although the psychologist was unable to identify the illness with specificity due to Mahdi’s lack of cooperation during the interview process.