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Jim Petro Announced Retirement

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Chancellor Jim Petro, whose long career in public service has included 12 years as Ohio's auditor and attorney general, is retiring.

The 64-year-old Petro on Monday announced he'll end his run in February after two years as state higher education chief.

The Republican from outside Cleveland ran for governor in 2006 but lost the GOP primary to Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

In 2005, Petro became the first state attorney general in the nation to intervene for the use of DNA evidence on behalf of a wrongly convicted inmate. His work helped exonerate Clarence Elkins, an Ohio man wrongly accused of rape and murder.

Petro and his wife, Nancy, wrote a book on the experience, which will be the center of an international tour after he retires.