COLUMBUS — Ohio last put an inmate to death six years ago, and as another legislative session nears a close, state lawmakers appear to be no closer to choosing a direction on the contentious issue.
Hearings have been held on bills on both sides: to do away with capital punishment altogether in favor of life without parole, and to implement a new option for executions given that the state can’t obtain the drugs it prefers for lethal injection.
Neither appears to be close to the finish line.
Any bill that does not reach Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk by the time the 135th General Assembly is gaveled to a close next month will have to start the legislative process from scratch beginning with the 136th.
“I believed in the death penalty,” Jonathan Mann, son of a 2017 murder victim in Parma, told the Senate Judiciary Committee recently in writing as it considers Senate Bill 101. The bill would abolish the death penalty in Ohio.
“That all changed once my family and I were thrown into the system and reviewed unbiased, factual information surrounding capital punishment in Ohio and the U.S. at large,” he wrote. “What we thought was true isn’t the case, and it’s time to correct it as a state.”
As of April, there were 119 people on Ohio’s death row.
Attorney General Dave Yost supports House Bill 392, which would authorize the use of nitrogen gas to put condemned inmates to death when the drugs needed for lethal injection — the only method currently sanctioned by law — are unavailable.
The bill would also expand confidentiality to pharmaceutical companies that would be willing to manufacture from scratch the drugs that other manufacturers refuse to make available to the state for use in executions.
While arguing that Ohio should fix its current system, Mr. Yost wrote that the status quo represents an “egregious miscarriage of justice.”
“The friends and loved ones of the victims deserve closure,” he wrote. “When a jury convicts an offender, and that offender is sentenced to death, that sentence should ultimately be carried out once appeals are exhausted. If there is no intent by the state to carry out these sentences, we must address those concerns so that Ohio law is enforced.”
The last execution occurred in July, 2018 under then-Gov. John Kasich using lethal injection. None has been carried out under Mr. DeWine, who took office in 2019, as he has cited threats from drug makers to withhold drugs needed for other state purposes to ensure that they don’t make their way to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for use in executions.
While a state senator, Mr. DeWine helped write Ohio’s current death penalty law. As attorney general, his office put some scheduled executions back on track after they were stopped by courts.
But today he has punted the issue to legislators. They have not moved in either direction, and Mr. DeWine has decided not to help them end the unofficial moratorium either way.
While state law authorizes lethal injection as Ohio’s official method of execution, the process, including the drugs used, are spelled out in DRC rules. Any time the department changes those rules, it guarantees a new round of litigation questioning the constitutionality of the process.
In addition to Mr. Yost, prosecutors and survivors of some murder victims have urged lawmakers to keep capital punishment on the books.
“Ohioans have time and time again supported capital punishment for serial killers, mass-murderers and child-killers, and ..., if the death penalty is abolished, the next movement will be to eliminate life without parole as a sentencing option,” Saleh Awadallah, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cuyahoga County, told the committee.
But the list of those now coming to the opposite conclusion include those who played roles in carrying out the process. Among them are former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer, who, as a state senator, helped write the current law with Mr. DeWine; former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro; and former Ohio corrections chief Gary Mohr, who personally oversaw executions.
“If there is one person that we have executed by mistake, that is one mistake too many that we can’t afford to make with a human life,” said Sen. Nickie Antonio (D., Lakewood), a sponsor of the Senate abolition bill.
While his alternative nitrogen gas bill is also not moving, state Rep. Brian Stewart (R., Ashville), one of its sponsors, said, “I believe the majority of the Republican caucus supports retaining the death penalty,” he said.
First Published November 24, 2024, 3:07 p.m.