Governor Kasich rejects clemency for condemned Ohio killer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A condemned killer's plea for mercy was rejected by Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Thursday, less than a week before he is scheduled to be executed for killing a security guard during a multi-state crime spree almost a decade ago.

Gov. John Kasich followed the parole board's unanimous recommendation against mercy for Frederick Treesh, whose execution is set for Wednesday.

Treesh was sentenced to die for shooting 58-year-old Henry Dupree during a robbery of an adult book store in Eastlake on Aug. 27, 1994.

Treesh's attorneys described him as a cocaine addict who was high during the robbery and is deeply sorry for what happened.

"Hindsight, regret and remorse cannot turn back the clock and cannot return Mr. Dupree's life," they said in a petition for clemency. "What Fred can do and has tried to do is to help prevent others from making the same mistakes he did" by teaching them to avoid drugs.

Attorney Adele Shenk didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Kasich's decision. It was unclear Thursday if Treesh had federal appeals remaining, though execution dates are generally set once an inmate has exhausted those appeals.

Treesh, 48, argued he had accepted responsibility for the killing but that it was an unintentional consequence of a struggle for a gun while he was high. But the parole board concluded evidence showed Dupree was seated when shot and hadn't appeared to be a threat to Treesh.

Prosecutors contend Treesh intentionally murdered Dupree and tried to kill others, including police officers who pursued him, after a three-week spree of increasingly violent crimes. They said Treesh and a co-defendant had robbed banks and businesses, committed sexual assaults, stole cars, committed carjackings and shot someone to death in a Michigan robbery during a spree that also took them to Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Treesh was not prosecuted for the crimes in other states, according to the Ohio Attorney General's office.

Ohio's most recent execution was in November, when the state put Brett Hartman to death for the 1997 stabbing and dismemberment of an Akron woman.