Court won't remove judge from case

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the trial judge in condemned inmate Robert Buell's case can continue to preside over it.

Buell, 62, convicted in 1984 in the rape and strangulation of 11-year-old Krista Harrison of Wayne County, is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday.

Buell's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to disqualify Wayne County Common Pleas Judge Mark Wiest from the case because they say he was aware of evidence that prosecutors withheld from Buell's defense.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said the evidence Buell's lawyers presented did not indicate Wiest was unfair.

On Monday, a federal judge in Cleveland, saying the defense claims were not new, dismissed a request to stop the execution. That ruling has been taken to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A similar request is before a court in Cuyahoga County, where Buell's 1984 trial was moved because of publicity.

Buell's attorneys said prosecutors withheld information that some witnesses had been hypnotized. Prosecutors said testimony from the hypnotized witnesses wasn't tainted and wasn't essential to convicting Buell.

The Ohio Parole Board on Monday recommended against granting clemency to Buell. It said prosecutors "showed that evidence overwhelmingly established Mr. Buell's guilt."

Gov. Bob Taft can accept the board's recommendation and allow the execution to proceed or can grant clemency, meaning that Buell would spend his life in prison. Taft has denied clemency to the four inmates executed since he took office in 1999. Taft is expected to decide whether to grant clemency by Monday.