Former Death Penalty Supporter Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Urges Abolition of the Death Penalty

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (pic­tured), a Republican, said on June 16, 2026 that he now believes Ohio should abol­ish the death penal­ty. Gov. DeWine helped to write the state’s death penal­ty law while serv­ing as a state leg­is­la­tor in 1981, but has halt­ed exe­cu­tions dur­ing his time as gov­er­nor, cit­ing con­cerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol. 

In a state­ment, Gov. DeWine described his 50 years of reflec­tion about the death penal­ty, begin­ning with his posi­tions in the Ohio leg­is­la­ture, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate. In all three of his leg­isla­tive roles, he vot­ed in favor of bills that per­mit­ted or expand­ed the death penal­ty. As Ohio Attorney General, he defend­ed the state’s death penal­ty law and death sen­tences. He says that his sup­port for the death penal­ty came from his belief that it ​“could serve as a deter­rent to keep some peo­ple from killing. For me, it was THE moral jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for hav­ing a death penal­ty.” He goes on to explain how Ohio’s use of the death penal­ty over the last 40 years has shown that it is not a deter­rent to crime. He writes, ​“with the dra­mat­ic drop in peo­ple being exe­cut­ed, and the over two-decade wait time for those who are exe­cut­ed, it is hard to make the case for the death penal­ty being a deterrent.”

The gov­er­nor also says that he is con­cerned about the effect of the death penal­ty on vic­tims’ fam­i­lies and on the peo­ple tasked with car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions. He quotes for­mer Director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Gary Mohr, who over­saw 15 exe­cu­tions. Mr. Mohr said, ​“The heav­i­ness felt by the exe­cu­tion team and by the sup­port staff is indescribable.”

Gov. DeWine’s state­ment comes as bills to abol­ish the death penal­ty remain pend­ing in both hous­es of the state leg­is­la­ture. All three pro­posed abo­li­tion bills have bipartisan sponsors.

Just one week before pub­licly voic­ing his sup­port for abo­li­tion, Gov. DeWine issued his first clemen­cy in a death penal­ty case. On June 8, the gov­er­nor reduced Gregory Lott’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole. Mr. Lott was sen­tenced to death in 1987. In 2020, Ohio’s Parole Board rec­om­mend­ed by a 6 – 2 vote that he be grant­ed clemen­cy. The pros­e­cu­tion and defense in Mr. Lott’s case both agree that Mr. Lott has intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and there­fore can­not be legal­ly exe­cut­ed. However, in 2025, a Cuyahoga County court found that, under the legal doc­trine of res judi­ca­ta, it could not rule on the issue of Mr. Lott’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty or grant him relief. 

In the order grant­i­ng clemen­cy, Gov. DeWine also not­ed that ​“the fam­i­ly mem­bers of the vic­tim, who rep­re­sent­ed them­selves as speak­ing for the entire fam­i­ly, are opposed to the imple­men­ta­tion of the death penalty.”