Bipartisan Coalition in Ohio Announces Planned Introduction of Death-Penalty Repeal Legislation

A bipar­ti­san coali­tion of Ohio law­mak­ers has announced plans to intro­duce leg­is­la­tion to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the Buckeye State. At a press con­fer­ence at the state capi­tol in Columbus on March 4, 2020, State Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D – Lakewood, pic­tured, left) said that she and Senator Peggy Lehner (R – Kettering, pic­tured, right) would be joint­ly spon­sor­ing a bill to abol­ish the death penal­ty and replace it with a sen­tence of life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.

The announce­ment comes as exe­cu­tions in the state are on hold over lethal-injec­tion con­cerns, and the cur­rent gov­er­nor and house speak­er, both Republicans, have expressed reser­va­tions about con­tin­u­ing the use of capital punishment. 

“This is not a Republican or a Democratic issue,” Antonio said, flanked by Republican co-spon­sor Kristina Roegner (R – Hudson), Democratic for­mer Gov. Ted Strickland, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Ohioans to Stop Executions and Ohio Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, and faith lead­ers, includ­ing the Ohio Catholic Conference. ​“No mat­ter what a person’s rea­son is for sup­port­ing this leg­is­la­tion, we all agree that this is crit­i­cal for our own col­lec­tive human­i­ty. It is our respon­si­bil­i­ty to work togeth­er across par­ty lines and leg­isla­tive cham­bers and move for­ward to end the death penal­ty in Ohio.”

Antonio called the death penal­ty an ​“expen­sive, imprac­ti­cal, unjust, inhu­mane and frankly, often erro­neous” pun­ish­ment that does not deter vio­lent crime and is fraught ​“with dis­par­i­ties across eco­nom­ic and racial lines.” Abolition, she said, would be a ​“com­pas­sion­ate, prag­mat­ic and eco­nom­i­cal­ly pru­dent step” for Ohio.

Former Governor Strickland offered sup­port for the bill, express­ing regret for fail­ing to take action to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment when he was in office. Noting that a top prison offi­cial resigned dur­ing his tenure as gov­er­nor because of the emo­tion­al toll of per­form­ing exe­cu­tions, Strickland said the 17 exe­cu­tions he presided over con­tin­ue to both­er him to this day. ​“You can’t cor­rect a mis­take,” he said. ​“I am con­vinced that if we con­tin­ue to impose this penal­ty, we will at some point, at some place, at some time take the life of an inno­cent per­son. Our crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem is not per­fect. That means we should nev­er impose this penal­ty on one of our fel­low human beings.” 

In her remarks, Senator Roegner recalled that “[w]hen I came to the General Assembly, I was for the death penal­ty. … But here I am.” Citing her reli­gious beliefs, she said ​“it was my heart that changed. … I can­not be pro-life and sup­port the death penal­ty any longer.”

Ohio will be the fif­teenth death-penal­ty state to con­sid­er an abo­li­tion bill this leg­isla­tive ses­sion. The bill has not been intro­duced yet, but Sen. Antonio said it will be intro­duced in the com­ing weeks. Ohio has the sev­enth-largest death row in the nation, with 140 pris­on­ers. Its last exe­cu­tion took place in 2018.