Former Ohio Justice Now Opposes Death Penalty

A former Ohio Supreme Court justice who mostly sided with the majority in cases ending in executions says she now opposes the death penalty. Former Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton says she objects not for moral reasons but because she doesn't think the death penalty is effective. Stratton spoke Thursday to a task force analyzing the effectiveness of Ohio's capital punishment law. She told the panel she didn't have a strong overall opinion about the death penalty when she served on the court. The Republican says that she opposed executions of mentally ill inmates and now has concluded the death penalty doesn't provide sufficient deterrence for crime or closure for victims' families. Stratton left the court last year and is now an attorney in Columbus.