The bipartisan and bicameral collection of lawmakers pitched an “urgent” need to codify the abolishment of Ohio’s death penalty while doubling down on existing state laws that make it impossible for the state to use its own dollars to fund abortions or assisted suicides.
Lawmakers described abolishing the death penalty as a moral and fiscal imperative, noting that capital cases in Ohio cost millions of dollars and are generally extended over the course of decades.
“This is transformative legislation that represents a new era of fiscal and moral conservatism and responsibility,” Mathews said. “This is more than just policy; this is about the affirmation that where there is human life, there is dignity and hope. By prohibiting public funds from being used to terminate human life, this legislation sends a clear message that Ohio will not fund death.”
The legislation — yet to be introduced in the House or Senate — is the latest development in an ongoing, convoluted death penalty saga in Ohio, which has had an unofficial moratorium on state executions since the summer of 2018 under the leadership of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
The stated rationale for that moratorium is a difficulty in obtaining drugs for lethal injection, which today is the only legal method the state could use to kill a death row inmate. In the time since the moratorium began, a backlog of 30 inmates that have exhausted all appeals await an execution date.
In December, DeWine told reporters that those 30 inmates will have to wait for at least two more years. “We’ve not had any executions since I’ve been governor. We will not as long as I’m governor,” said DeWine, who will be replaced in early 2027 due to term limits and may be replaced by a governor with a more favorable view of capital punishment.
In the meantime, legislators on both sides of the issue have tried to advance their cause — on efforts to fully rule out capital punishments and on efforts to allow the state to use nitrogen hypoxia, a rarely used method of suffocation, in instances where lethal injection drugs can’t be obtained.
On Jan. 20, during his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order to restore the death penalty. In it, he castigated politicians who, by not moving forward with capital punishments, “have defied and subverted the laws of our country,” Trump’s order said. “At every turn, they seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital sentences and choose to enforce their personal beliefs rather than the law.”
Trump’s order mandates the U.S. Attorney General to seek capital punishments for all capital crimes. It also directs the U.S. AG to seek federal jurisdiction for every federal capital crime involving the murder of a law enforcement officer and all capital crime committed by undocumented people.
Additionally, it instructs the U.S. AG to “encourage State attorneys general and district attorneys to bring State capital charges for all capital crimes with special attention” to the aforementioned crimes. Ohio’s current Attorney General Dave Yost advocated for the authorization of nitrogen hypoxia last year and launched his campaign for governor earlier this month.
While the anti-death penalty lawmakers expressed optimism that this compromising bill might finally make it into law, Montgomery County Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp. told this outlet Tuesday that he doesn’t expect it to garner much support among House Republicans.
“It’s always been hot over in the Senate, we’ve never had an appetite for it over here,” said Plummer, noting that he intends to reintroduce his bill to authorize nitrogen hypoxia soon. “Of course, we have a lot of new members so who knows where they’re going to be, but I’ll take our odds over here.”
House Republicans aren’t the only groups hesitant with the bill. House Minority Leader Allison Russo told reporters Tuesday that she doesn’t expect much support from her caucus unless a member offers to co-sponsor the bill in the House, giving them greater control of what the final product would actually look like.
But the bill also angered abortion-rights activists including Planned Parenthood, which sent out a press release admonishing Senate Democrats for putting their names on a bill that would further close the door of state funds going to abortions.
“The sad reality is that what should have been a focused effort to end the death penalty in Ohio devolved into yet another anti-abortion spectacle,” said Lauren Blauvelt, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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