On June 8, 2026, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine filed an order with the Supreme Court of Ohio grant­i­ng a com­mu­ta­tion to Gregory Lott, reduc­ing Mr. Lott’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole. Gov. DeWine cit­ed Mr. Lott’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and the victim’s family’s sup­port for clemency. 

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. At the time of that rec­om­men­da­tion, Mr. Lott had an exe­cu­tion date sched­uled for May 27, 2021. Ohio rou­tine­ly sets exe­cu­tion dates, but has not per­formed an exe­cu­tion since 2018, due to con­cerns about the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. Gov. DeWine has grant­ed reprieves for every exe­cu­tion date set dur­ing his administration. 

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.” 

Mr. Lott pre­vi­ous­ly faced numer­ous exe­cu­tion dates. He received an 8‑month stay of exe­cu­tion from Governor John Kasich in 2014, after the botched exe­cu­tion of Dennis McGuire. At the time of his com­mu­ta­tion, he was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on April 14, 2027. He is the 22nd death row pris­on­er to be grant­ed clemen­cy in Ohio since 1976, and the first grant­ed clemen­cy by Gov. DeWine. 

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Governor Mike DeWine, Clemency Order, Supreme Court of Ohio, June 8, 2026.