Gov. John Kasich issued a temporary reprieve Thursday for Raymond Tibbetts, a Cincinnati man who was scheduled to be executed Tuesday.
"Kasich issued the reprieve in light of a letter he received on January 30 from a juror on Tibbetts’ case," a statement from the governor's office said. "Because the Ohio Parole Board issued its report and recommendation without considering the letter, Kasich has asked the board to convene a hearing for the purpose of considering the letter and the issue it raises."
Kasich reset the execution for Oct. 17.
In his letter, the juror said that he would not have voted 20 years ago to execute Tibbetts, who killed his wife and an elderly man, if he'd known the extent to which Tibbetts was abused as a child.
Tibbetts was convicted of beating and stabbing his wife Judith Crawford, 42, to death in 1997. He also stabbed landlord Fred Hicks, 67, to death. Tibbetts and Crawford lived in Hicks' home while Crawford cared for him.
Tibbetts and Crawford were arguing over Tibbetts' cocaine habit.
Juror Ross Geiger of Loveland earlier this month wrote a letter explaining his change of heart about Tibbetts' conviction. He said he'd have voted differently if he'd been given a fuller picture of the abuse Tibbetts suffered as a child and if Tibbetts' sister would have testified and rebutted the prosecution's claim that despite the abuse, Tibbetts' siblings went on to live normal lives.
In Tibbetts' clemency report, Geiger read, "Pages of relevant information concerning details of the abandonment, foster abuse, and re-abandonment and that it began before Tibbets was even two years old," Geiger wrote, adding that the report also contained "the shocking revelation that Tibbets sister was available to testify, but was not included in the penalty phase testimony."
Tibbetts, 60, has a lengthy criminal history. His clemency report said he and his siblings were removed from an abusive home and placed with foster parents who would tie him and his brother to the bed when they left. Tibbetts and his brother were moved to a juvenile detention center where they continued to be sexually abused, his brother said.
Tibbetts began drinking and using drugs when he was 14, the clemency report said.
His lawyer praised Kasich's decision to grant a temporary reprieve.
"Governor Kasich acted in the interests of fairness and justice by recognizing new information provided by a juror from Mr. Tibbetts’ trial merits careful additional consideration," the lawyer, Erin Barnhart, said in a statement. "Because a juror from the original trial recently revealed flaws in the proceedings, there is now incontrovertible proof that Mr. Tibbetts never would have ended up on death row had the system functioned properly."
Marty Schladen is a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch.