News Brief — Ohio Parole Board Recommends that Governor Commute Gregory Lott’s Death Sentence

NEWS (5/​1/​20) — Ohio: By a vote of 6 – 2, the Ohio Parole Board has rec­om­mend that Governor Mike DeWine com­mute the sen­tence of death-row pris­on­er Gregory Lott (pic­tured) to life with­out parole. The deci­sion on clemen­cy is now up to Gov. DeWine, who has twice delayed Lott’s execution.

Lott’s exe­cu­tion had been sched­uled for August 2019, but on March 7, 2019, DeWine issued a reprieve and resched­uled the exe­cu­tion for March 12, 2020. Citing the unavail­abil­i­ty of exe­cu­tion drugs, Gov. DeWine grant­ed Lott a sec­ond reprieve on January 31, 2020 and set a new May 27, 2021 execution date.

Lott’s pre­sen­ta­tion to the parole board argued that the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly did not want him to be exe­cut­ed, Lott is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled, the case was taint­ed by pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, and Lott’s death sen­tence was based upon an aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance that the Ohio Supreme Court Joint Task Force on the Death Penalty has rec­om­mend­ed should be elim­i­nat­ed. Cuyahoga County pros­e­cu­tors argued that the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly’s views should be giv­en lit­tle weight because the vic­tim had been estranged from the fam­i­ly and that Lott did not meet the require­ments to be con­sid­ered intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled, although pros­e­cu­tors did not sub­mit any expert tes­ti­mo­ny to the board on that issue.