[Chet 99]

So instead of executing him, keep him in jail for life? I don’t get it - if there is good evidence questioning his guilt, why not pardon him?

[Star Traveler]

Well, the legislator who helped write the state's death penalty law, back in 1981, says about this case ...

Justice Paul Pfeifer, who helped write Ohio's death penalty law as a state legislator in 1981, wrote that Nields' crime was not what lawmakers considered as a case eligible for the death penalty when creating the law.