Ohio Gov. grants clemency for Sydney Cornwell

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland yesterday spared Sydney Cornwell from execution - a day before the sentence was due to be carried out.

Cornwell was convicted of killing 3-year old Jessica Ballew and 3 adults in 1996, and was scheduled to die by lethal injection today. He will now serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Strickland's decision is at least in part influenced by Cornwell's recent diagnosis with Klinefelter syndrome. From what I remember of high school biology, this condition means that males have an extra X chromosome in most of their cells (XXY instead of XY) which affects the amount of testosterone produced during puberty. Some males with XXY condition can exhibit symptoms during puberty such as less facial and body hair, broader hips and larger breasts, but it can also lead to boys developing language problems and struggling in school and sports. Althouth adult males with XXY condition live similar lives to men without the condition, Strickland questioned whether the jury or sentencing judge would have sentenced Cornwell to death had they known about his disorder. Strickland believed there was a "substantial possibility that... one of more of them would have found that the death penalty was innapropriate in this case."

Cornwell is the third death row inmate that Strickland has spared this year.

Surely it would save a lot of time and money to just call a moratorium... Just saying.