COLUMBUS — As expected, Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday postponed December’s scheduled execution of convicted Toledo murderer James Galen Hanna until July.
He also delayed January’s scheduled execution of a Columbus killer until next September, citing the state’s ongoing problems in finding its preferred execution drugs. The governor said last week that he didn’t believe Hanna would be executed on schedule.
Hanna, 70. was sentenced to die for the 1997 brutal stabbing and bludgeoning murder of his cellmate, Peter Copas, at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. He was serving a life sentence at the time for the 1978 robbery murder of 18-year-old convenience store clerk, Edward V. Tucker, in West Toledo.
Originally set for Dec. 11, the execution is now scheduled for July 16, 2020.
The planned Jan. 16 execution of Kareem Jackson, convicted in the 1997 murders of Antonio Hunter and Terrance Walker in Columbus, is now set for Sept. 16.
There are now 10 executions scheduled for 2020, according to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The only months without a scheduled execution are January and November.
But it remains unclear when, or if, the state will resume carrying out the death penalty. Manufacturers of the three drugs in Ohio’s execution protocol refuse to make them available and have threatened to withhold them from state agencies for therapeutic use if they learn they have been diverted to put people to death.
Ohio’s last execution was carried out more than a year ago. No one has been put to death so far in Mr. DeWine’s tenure as governor..
Among those scheduled to die in 2020 is Douglas Coley for the 1997 killing of Samar El-Okdi during a 1997 Toledo carjacking. The execution is set for Aug. 12 — at least for now.
First Published October 30, 2019, 9:25 p.m.
