{"id":207050,"date":"2026-06-17T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=207050"},"modified":"2026-06-17T20:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:53:18","slug":"dewine-wilson-differ-on-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/06\/17\/dewine-wilson-differ-on-death-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"DeWine, Wilson differ on death penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS — Govenor Mike DeWine has called on Ohio legislators to abolish Ohio\u2019s death penalty, but it doesn\u2019t appear the request has much support among lawmakers and other high-ranking state leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believed that in some cases capital punishment could serve as a deterrent to keep some people from killing,\u201d DeWine said. \u201cFor me, it was the moral justification for having a death penalty. I\u2019m responsible for that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Mike DeWine and Andy Wilson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there\u2019s any chance in the future the facts that I\u2019ve cited to support that belief will change,\u201d he said. \u201cTherefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has previously said he would \u201cvigorously oppose\u201d 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 \u201cparalyzed Ohio\u2019s justice system for the better part of a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yost\u2019s replacement, Andy Wilson, issued a statement on Wednesday that indicates he\u2019s not in agreement with DeWine\u2019s request. In the statement, Wilson called DeWine \u201ca religious man who cares deeply about the sanctity of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving 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,\u201d Wilson said in the statement. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m relieved that the governor didn\u2019t 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio lawmakers have previously introduced bills to end the death penalty, but none of the bills have received a hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s last execution took place in July, 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was put to death by lethal injection for murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are nearly 115 inmates on Ohio\u2019s death row. One of them has been there since 1978.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor COLUMBUS — Govenor Mike DeWine has called on Ohio legislators to abolish Ohio\u2019s death penalty, but it doesn\u2019t 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 14:47:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207052,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207050\/revisions\/207052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}