---
title: 'NEW VOICES: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Testifies for Death Penalty Repeal'
description: 'On December 14, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer (pictured) testified before the state’s House Criminal Justice Committee, urging lawmakers to…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-ohio-supreme-court-justice-testifies-for-death-penalty-repeal'
section: news
date: '2011-12-19T20:10:00-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:31:18-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! On December 14, **Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer** (pictured) testified before the state's House Criminal Justice Committee, urging lawmakers to overturn the death penalty law he helped write as a state senator 30 years ago.

Justice Pfeifer said, “The death penalty in Ohio has become what I call a death lottery," citing factors such as the location of the crimes and the attitudes of individual county prosecutors as variables affecting whether the death penalty is pursued in a given case. He continued, “It's very difficult to conclude that the death penalty, as it exists today, is anything but a bad gamble. That's really not how a criminal justice system should work.''

As a sitting justice, Pfeifer has continued to issue decisions in death penalty cases and to set execution dates under the law. Of his role, he said, "I have a duty under the law to follow that law. At the same time, we are admonished under the rules that apply to judges that we have a duty to step forward and advocate for changes we think would lead to an improvement in the law.”

Among others testifying at the hearing on a bill to repeal the death penalty was **Dale Johnston**, who spent seven years on death row for the murder of his daughter and her boyfriend. The state Supreme Court overturned his conviction, and another man is now serving a life sentence for the crimes. Johnston noted that, like many people, he supported the death penalty before his wrongful conviction. "I never imagined that I or another innocent man could be on death row, but it happened to me. If it happened to me, it could happen to anyone.''

J. Provance, [Ohio justice urges repeal of death penalty](https://www.toledoblade.com/State/2011/12/15/Ohio-justice-urges-repeal-of-death-penalty.html), Toledo Blade, December 15, 2011.