Akron attorney Don Malarcik has represented defendants in six death penalty cases in the past 15 years.
None was sentenced to death.
Malarcik, a staunch death penalty opponent, takes pride in his perfect record on what he considers his most important work.
“I have represented individuals I’m comfortable with never being free again,” Malarcik said in a recent interview. “I never represented someone I thought should die.”
Rather than asking, “Does he deserve to die?” Malarcik thinks the question should be, “Do we deserve to kill?” For him, the answer is no.
Malarcik and his partners, Brian Pierce and Joe Gorman, are well-known in Summit County for their criminal defense work.
In 2001, Malarcik attended Trial Lawyer’s College in Wyoming, a lawyer training program started by nationally known defense attorney Gerry Spence. Malarcik, an attorney for 23 years, now teaches there, including giving instruction on death penalty cases.
Malarcik and Pierce represented Eric Hendon last year, Summit County’s last death penalty case. Hendon was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the triple murder in Barberton.
When Hendon’s trial concluded in April, Malarcik and Pierce criticized the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office for continuing to pursue the death penalty when juries seem unwilling to recommend it. In the county’s last 10 capital cases since 2014, only one drew a death sentence. The rest resulted in life sentences.
