The Chairman of a state task force to reform Ohio’s death penal­ty and two for­mer state Attorney Generals have joined a diverse coali­tion of pub­lic offi­cials, death-row exonerees, fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims, for­mer cor­rec­tions offi­cials, and reli­gious lead­ers urg­ing Ohio Governor John Kasich to halt the state’s planned resump­tion of exe­cu­tions. Citing leg­isla­tive inac­tion on crit­i­cal reforms, the high risk of error, and botched exe­cu­tions, the groups held a press con­fer­ence (pic­tured) on July 29 detail­ing their oppo­si­tion to Ohio’s planned exe­cu­tion of 27 pris­on­ers between July 2017 and September 2020, and deliv­ered to the gov­er­nor peti­tions with over 27,000 sig­na­tures ask­ing that exe­cu­tions not resume. Ohio has not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion since it botched the exe­cu­tion of Dennis McGuire in January 2014, but is sched­uled to exe­cute Ronald Phillips on July 25. In April 2014, a Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty cre­at­ed by the Ohio Supreme Court issued a detailed report high­ly crit­i­cal of the state’s death penal­ty, and rec­om­mend­ed 56 reforms to pre­vent wrong­ful con­vic­tions and unfair and arbi­trary death sen­tences. In a writ­ten state­ment read at the press con­fer­ence, the Task Force’s chair­man, now retired Judge James Brogan, called Ohio’s planned resump­tion of exe­cu­tions ​“very trou­bling,” say­ing that “[t]hose charged with ensur­ing our cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is fair and accu­rate have failed to act.” Ohio ​“should not resume exe­cu­tions with­out address­ing” the Task Force’s reforms, Brogan said. Former Ohio Attorney Generals, Democrat Jim Petro and Republican Lee Fisher also urged Governor Kasich to extend the cur­rent freeze on Ohio exe­cu­tions. In a July 20 guest col­umn in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, they wrote, ​“we strong­ly believe that Ohio should not exe­cute again until impor­tant safe­guards are in place.” They said the 3½-year break since Ohio’s last exe­cu­tion ​“should have been used to improve the Ohio death penal­ty sys­tem. Instead, not a sin­gle sub­stan­tive reform has been put in place to pre­vent wrong­ful con­vic­tions and improve fair­ness in Ohio’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem.” Kwame Ajamu — one of the 9 Ohio death-row exonerees — also spoke at the press con­fer­ence, stress­ing the risk of killing an inno­cent pris­on­er if exe­cu­tions resume. Family mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims, cor­rec­tions offi­cials, and faith lead­ers, also spoke out against resum­ing exe­cu­tions and sub­mit­ted let­ters to the Governor. ​“We are not ask­ing the state to turn its back on peo­ple who com­mit seri­ous crimes,” said Pastor Carl Ruby with the Central Christian Church. ​“We are in favor of hard-life sen­tences for peo­ple who com­mit despi­ca­ble crimes, but the death penal­ty elim­i­nates the pos­si­bil­i­ty [of cor­rect­ing mis­takes if] we got it wrong.” 

Phillips and oth­er pris­on­ers fac­ing exe­cu­tion have chal­lenged the lethal-injec­tion for­mu­la that Ohio intends to use, say­ing that it will vio­late their right to be free from cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment and that the state has reneged on its promise to nev­er use two painful and ago­niz­ing drugs in exe­cu­tions. The pris­on­ers won a stay of exe­cu­tion in Ohio fed­er­al dis­trict court, but a divid­ed U.S. Court of Appeals reversed that deci­sion. The pris­on­ers have asked the Supreme Court to review their case and stay their executions. 

(A. Johnson, Faith lead­ers, oth­ers urge Kasich to halt resump­tion of Ohio exe­cu­tions, Columbus Dispatch, July 19, 2017; J. Provance, Gov. John Kasich urged to block Ohio’s plan to resume exe­cu­tions, The Blade, July 19, 2017; R. Reitzel, Group asks Governor Kasich to stop sched­uled exe­cu­tions, NBC4i​.com, July 19, 2017; J. Petro and L. Fisher, ​“Gov. John Kasich should pre­vent Ohio exe­cu­tions from resum­ing,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 2017.) Read the Press Release.

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