Latest inmate removed from death row via mental illness law

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A new Ohio law prohibiting the execution of people severely mentally ill at the time of their crime has led to the removal of another prisoner from death row. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law last year covering killers diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder or delusional disorder. Last month a Stark County judge found that death row inmate David Sneed had schizoaffective disorder when he fatally shot a man in 1984. Sneed was resentenced to life without parole. Last year, judges removed inmates in Butler and Franklin counties from death row after their attorneys successfully argued they met the mental illness criteria.