The Columbus Dispatch [A Pro Death Penalty Newspaper] Strickland Asked To Give Spirko 120-Day Execution Reprieve For DNA Tests By Alan Johnson The Columbus Dispatch Monday, March 5, 2007 2:15 PM Gov. Ted Strickland has been asked to grant another 120-day execution reprieve for John G. Spirko Jr. to allow more time for DNA testing that has already been underway for 18 months. Unless Strickland intervenes, Spirko, 60, will be executed on April 17 for the 1982 abduction and murder of Betty Jane Mottinger, supervisor of the U.S. Post office in Elgin in northwest Ohio. Attorney General Marc Dann's office on Friday asked Strickland to approve the extension to allow additional time to complete DNA testing that Spirko's attorneys hope will exonerate their client. It would be the sixth straight delay for Spirko whose first execution date was Sept. 19, 2005. Spirko's attorneys argue that their client is innocent and that his conviction was based on circumstantial evidence. They sought DNA testing on a wide variety of items, ranging from cigarette butts found at the post office crime scene, to the duct tape used to wrap Mottinger's body when it was dumped in a bean field. State officials have said repeatedly that they remain confident Spirko's conviction is correct since it has withstood two decades of legal challenges. ajohnson@dispatch.com Email: Tracy Spirko, John Spirko's Representative Used with permission