Stratton Quoted in ‘Sky Will Not Fall,’ Proponents of Death Penalty Restrictions for Mentally Ill Argue to Committee

Eve Stratton, of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office who prior to joining Vorys was a justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio, was quoted a Hannah Capitol Connection article titled, “’Sky Will Not Fall,’ Proponents of Death Penalty Restrictions for Mentally Argue to Committee,” on May 2, 2019.  

The quote states:

Stratton, who has worked on this issue for many years since leaving the Supreme Court, noted that she declined to rule on this issue as a justice, feeling as though it was the Legislature's job to implement these protections. She said she feels as though, over the years, she has made sufficient concessions to prosecutors on this legislation, especially with regard to the burden of proof in the bill. She said, "The time for compromise is over."

"We've given you data, we've given you figures and we've given you studies all to show how mitigation does not work. I've met with the prosecutors many times. We've compromised on this bill multiple times at the prosecutors' request. One change I very much objected to was changing the burden of proof from a presumption to putting it wholly on the defendant. … At some point I feel like I have no teeth left. … You can either vote for this with lots of research and data, or you just say, 'I'm just philosophically opposed to allowing this,'" she said.

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