O'Bannon denies clemency

Gov. Frank O'Bannon denied clemency Wednesday for Kevin Hough, who is scheduled to be executed early Friday at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City for killing two Fort Wayne men in 1985.\n"Hough has presented no new evidence at this stage of the case indicating his innocence or showing that any miscarriage of justice has occurred," O'Bannon wrote in a six-page decision.\nO'Bannon said Hough has made several arguments over the years in both state and federal courts, including alleged procedural mistakes and having ineffective lawyers, but they have been rejected. O'Bannon said that barring clear evidence of a miscarriage of justice, it was not his place to review potential legal errors.\n"As governor, I am deeply committed to upholding the Constitution and laws of Indiana, as I have sworn to do," O'Bannon wrote. "My respect for the rule of law and my review of the facts in this case lead me to my decision. Kevin L. Hough's request for clemency is denied."\nMeanwhile, lawyers for Hough have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. They contend he was improperly sentenced to death because the jury failed to list what aggravating factors it found in deciding to recommend the death sentence.\nDespite that, a judge sentenced Hough to death and listed three aggravating factors: murder during a robbery, a double murder and a prior murder conviction, the lawyers said.\nHough was sentenced to death in the murders of Martin Rubrake, 56, and his longtime roommate, Theodore Bosler, 49, at their Fort Wayne home during a robbery on Nov. 6, 1985. Hough also murdered a Polish immigrant, Antonio Barkowiak, 11 days earlier.\nHough's attorneys, John L. Stainthorp and Joey L. Mogul, argue in their appeal, filed Monday, that Hough was eligible for the death penalty only if aggravating factors outweighed mitigating factors.\nThe determination "that the aggravators outweighed mitigators had to be made by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt," they said. "In Hough's case, there was no such verdict"