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State And Federal Info

Ohio

History of the Death Penalty

Until 1885, executions were carried out by public hangings, which were conducted by individual counties. In 1885, death row and executions were moved to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. The electric chair was first used in Ohio in 1897 and was used to execute 312 men and 3 women. The last person executed with the electric chair was Donald Reinbolt in 1963.

Famous Cases

Sandra Lockett was sentenced to death for her involvement in a robbery and murder. At the time, Ohio’s statute allowed judges in capital cases to consider only three mitigating factors. If none of those factors were found in a case, the defendant had to be sentenced to death. Lockett’s case was appealed to the Supreme Court. In Lockett v. Ohio (1978), the Court ruled that the sentencer in a capital case “not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant’s character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death.” Lockett’s sentence was overturned.

Richard Cooey challenged Ohio’s lethal injection protocol, saying that it would cause a severely painful death. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected his claim, and Cooey was executed on October 14, 2008.

Romell Broom was convicted of kidnapping and murder in 1984 and sentenced to death. His execution was scheduled for September 15, 2009. The execution team spent two hours searching for a suitable vein for Broom’s lethal injection, but failed to insert the IV. During the procedure, Broom tried to assist the team in finding a vein, but they were still unable to do so. The prison director contacted Governor Strickland, who issued a stay of execution in order to allow the state to evaluate the lethal injection procedure. Broom remains on Ohio’s death row.

Notable Exonerations

Joe D’Ambrosio was exonerated in 2012, 23 years after he was convicted. A federal District Court had first overturned D’Ambrosio’s conviction in 2006 because the state had withheld key evidence from the defense. The federal court originally allowed the state to re-prosecute him, but just before trial the state revealed the existence of even more important evidence and requested further delay. Additionally, the state did not divulge in a timely manner that the key witness against D’Ambrosio had died. In 2010, the District Court barred D’Ambrosio’s re-prosecution because of the prosecutors’ misconduct. On January 23, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal in the case, thus ending the capital case.

Timothy Howard and Gary Lamar James were sentenced to death in 1976 for a bank robbery in Columbus, Ohio, in which one of the bank guards was killed. Both men were released from prison in 2003 after new evidence was uncovered. Conflicting witness statements and previously unknown fingerprint evidence led the Franklin County prosecutor to dismiss all charges against Howard and James.

On November 21, 2014, Ricky Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman were released from prison. Prosecutors filed a motion to drop charges against Jackson, Bridgeman, and their co-defendant, Kwame Ajamu (formerly Ronnie Bridgeman), who had been released, but not exonerated, in 2003. A judge officially dismissed the charges against Jackson and Bridgeman on November 21, and against Ajamu on December 9.

The three men had been convicted of a 1975 murder on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy, who recently recanted, saying he had not witnessed the murder at all. All three defendants were sentenced to death. Upon his release, Jackson said, “The English language doesn’t even fit what I’m feeling. I’m on an emotional high. You sit in prison for so long and think about this day but when it actually comes you don’t know what you’re going to do, you just want to do something.”

Following his release, Bridgeman said, “The bitterness is over with; I carried that too long.” Jackson’s and Bridgeman’s 39 years in prison is the longest time between conviction and exoneration of any of those exonerated. Since 1973 there have been 149 exonerations of people sentenced to death in the U.S. including eight in Ohio. Kwame Ajamu remarked, “I was sentenced to die, as was Ricky and my brother. We were 17, 18, and 20. For a crime we didn’t do.”

Notable Clemencies

In 1991, Ohio Governor Richard Celeste commuted the sentences of eight inmates on Ohio’s death row, citing a “disturbing racial pattern” in sentencing.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1974, but the law was struck down as unconstitutional in 1978. The current law went into effect in 1981.

HB 160, a death penalty abolition bill, was introduced by Rep. Ted Celeste in the 129th General Assembly on March 15, 2011.

Ohio “Firsts”

Ohio was the first state to adopt a one-drug execution protocol. Ohio was also the first state to change from the one-drug protocol of sodium thiopental to pentobarbital.

In 2010, Ohio passed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill to curb wrongful convictions called the DNA Access Bill (128th GA, SB 77).

Other Interesting Facts

“Old Sparky,” as the electric chair came to be known, claimed the lives of 315 killers between 1897 and 1963, beginning with William Haas, 17, of Hamilton County and ending with Donald Reinbolt, 29, of Columbus.

Ohio had three botched executions in a four-year period:

Joseph Clark (May 2006)

Christopher Newton (May 2007)

Romell Broom (September 2009)

Although Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1974, it did not resume executions until 1999.

Cincinnati skyline.  Photo by Kenneth England.
Cincinnati sky­line. Photo by Kenneth England.

Resources

  • American Bar Association Ohio Death Penalty Assessment
  • Ohioans to Stop Executions
  • Department of Corrections
  • Ohio Parole Board Clemency Reports
  • Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association
  • Public defender’s office
  • Victims’ services
  • 2015 Year-End Statement from Ohioans to Stop Executions

Ohio Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Innocence

Feb 23, 2021

Ohio Legislators Launch Bipartisan Effort to Repeal State’s Death Penalty

A bipar­ti­san group of leg­is­la­tors has announced the intro­duc­tion of a bill to repeal Ohio’s death penal­ty. In a vir­tu­al press con­fer­ence on February 18, 2021, four Republican and four Democratic leg­is­la­tors spoke about the lat­est effort to end cap…

Ohio Legislators Launch Bipartisan Effort to Repeal State’s Death Penalty

Innocence

Feb 15, 2021

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 8, 2021

NEWS (2/​11/​21) — Alabama: In a splin­tered vote with three con­ser­v­a­tive jus­tices not­ing their dis­sents, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Alabama Attorney General’s appli­ca­tion to vacate a …

Public Opinion

Feb 02, 2021

Ohio Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Death Penalty Repeal

A major­i­ty of Ohioans sup­port repeal of the state’s death penal­ty, a new­ly released statewide poll sug­gests. Fifty-four per­cent of Ohioans respond­ing to an on-line poll by the Tarrance Group said they pre­ferred some form …

Ohio Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Death Penalty Repeal

Mental Illness

Jan 11, 2021

Ohio Bars Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness

Ohio has banned the death penal­ty for defen­dants who were severe­ly men­tal­ly ill at the time of the offense. On January 9, 2021, Governor Mike DeWine (pic­tured) signed into law House Bill 136, which pro­hibits impos…

Ohio Bars Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness

Upcoming Executions

Dec 30, 2020

Romell Broom, Who Survived Botched Execution, Dies of COVID-19 on Ohio Death Row

Romell Broom (pic­tured), who sur­vived a botched exe­cu­tion attempt in September 2009, has died on Ohio’s death row of sus­pect­ed COVID-19 com­pli­ca­tions. He was 64 years old and had spent more than half his life on d…

Romell Broom, Who Survived Botched Execution, Dies of COVID-19 on Ohio Death Row

Innocence

Dec 21, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of December 14, 2020

NEWS (12/​18/​20) — Texas: The Texas Supreme Court has over­turned a rul­ing by the state’s comp­trol­ler that had denied death-row exoneree Alfred Dew…

Upcoming Executions

Dec 15, 2020

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Calls Lethal Injection A Practical Impossibility, Says State Will Not Execute Anyone in 2021

Saying that “[l]ethal injec­tion appears to us to be impos­si­ble from a prac­ti­cal point of view today,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (pic­tured) told reporters it is ​“pret­ty clear” that the state will not exe­cute anyone…

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Calls Lethal Injection A Practical Impossibility, Says State Will Not Execute Anyone in 2021

Upcoming Executions

Dec 03, 2020

COVID-19 Prison Outbreaks Kill Death-Row Prisoners in Ohio and Missouri and Infect At Least 11 on Tennessee’s Death Row

New COVID-19 out­breaks on the nation’s death rows have killed pris­on­ers in Ohio and Missouri and sick­ened at least 11 men on Tennessee’s death row. James Frazier (pic­ture…

COVID-19 Prison Outbreaks Kill Death-Row Prisoners in Ohio and Missouri and Infect At Least 11 on Tennessee’s Death Row

Mental Illness

Nov 10, 2020

Lawyers Argue 79-Year-Old Ohio Death-Row Prisoner with Dementia is Incompetent to Be Executed

Lawyers for James Frazier (pic­tured), Ohio’s old­est death-row pris­on­er, have filed a motion to pre­vent his exe­cu­tion, argu­ing that he has severe vas­cu­lar demen­tia that has ren­dered him unable to under­stand his pun…

Lawyers Argue 79-Year-Old Ohio Death-Row Prisoner with Dementia is Incompetent to Be Executed

Public Opinion

Nov 04, 2020

Local Prosecutor Elections Foreshadow Continued Movement Away From Death Penalty

Reform pros­e­cu­tors made fur­ther inroads in the American legal sys­tem in the November 2020 gen­er­al elec­tion, unseat­ing pros­e­cu­tors in sev­er­al of the most pro­lif­ic death-sen­tenc­ing coun­ties in the United States and cap­tur­ing open seats in major Texa…

Local Prosecutor Elections Foreshadow Continued Movement Away From Death Penalty
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View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 56
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 438
  • Current Death Row Population: 141
  • Women on Death Row: 1
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 11
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 21
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): January 1, 1974
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1999
  • Location of Death Row (Men): Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ross County and Ohio State Penitentiary, Youngstown
  • Location of Death Row (Women): Ohio Reformatory for Women, Marysville
  • Location of Executions: Lucasville
  • Capital: Columbus
  • Region: Midwest
  • Population: 11,536,504
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 8.3
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Injection, One Drug Protocol
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has authority to grant clemency with nonbinding advice of Board of Pardons and Paroles
  • Governor: Mike DeWine

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