DeWine, Wilson differ on death penalty

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

COLUMBUS — Govenor Mike DeWine has called on Ohio legislators to abolish Ohio’s death penalty, but it doesn’t appear the request has much support among lawmakers and other high-ranking state leaders.

During a news conference held on Tuesday, DeWine confirmed his stance on the death penalty statute. In a twist, it was DeWine who helped write the statute as a state legislator in 1981.

“I believed that in some cases capital punishment could serve as a deterrent to keep some people from killing,” DeWine said. “For me, it was the moral justification for having a death penalty. I’m responsible for that decision.”

To emphasize his point now, Governor DeWine displayed charts and graphs detailing the diminishing number of death sentences handed out by courts and showing long wait times as legal appeals play out for those on death row. He said condemned murderers are increasingly unlikely to ever be executed.

“I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change,” he said. “Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.”

DeWine also said he said data indicates the death penalty is not working as intended to deter crime, even as it brings years of pain to victims’ loved ones and takes a toll on the mental health of state employees who serve on execution teams.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has previously said he would “vigorously oppose” any effort to abolish the death penalty and before leaving office earlier this month, former Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost renewed his call to end the unofficial moratorium on executions that he claimed has “paralyzed Ohio’s justice system for the better part of a decade.”

Yost’s replacement, Andy Wilson, issued a statement on Wednesday that indicates he’s not in agreement with DeWine’s request. In the statement, Wilson called DeWine “a religious man who cares deeply about the sanctity of life.”

“Having personally handled several death penalty trials, I understand the value of the death penalty as an option for prosecutors and victims in very limited circumstances,” Wilson said in the statement. “The decision to seek the death penalty is the most serious decision a prosecutor can make. My experience working with prosecutors across the state is that they do not make this choice lightly. In a small percentage of cases, the death penalty is the only option that can bring a measure of justice and closure to the families of victims who rely on the criminal justice system to help them through the worst moments of their lives.”

“I’m relieved that the governor didn’t use the power of commutation to undo the decisions of the prosecutors, juries and judges who are closest to the facts and evidence in these cases,” he added.

Since DeWine took office in 2019, there have been no executions in Ohio. DeWine, who will leave office at the end of this year due to term limits, has issued a number of reprieves for prisoners on the state’s death row and each time, he blamed ongoing problems involving the willingness of pharmaceutical suppliers to provide the necessary drugs to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Other states have continued carrying out death sentences via lethel injection, while others have changed methods, including the use of a firing squad or nitrogen gas.

Ohio lawmakers have previously introduced bills to end the death penalty, but none of the bills have received a hearing.

Ohio’s last execution took place in July, 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was put to death by lethal injection for murder.

There are nearly 115 inmates on Ohio’s death row. One of them has been there since 1978.