Entries tagged with “Mike DeWine”
New Voices
,Sep 21, 2026
Former Portage County Sheriff Says Tyrone Noling is Innocent and Should Be Pardoned, Citing ‘Egregious’ Official Misconduct
In a September 17, 2026 op-ed, P. Ken Howe — who served as sheriff of Portage County, Ohio from 1989 to 1993 and was present at the crime scene — called on Governor Mike DeWine to grant a full pardon to Tyrone Noling, who has spent three decades on death row after being convicted of the 1990 murders of Cora and Bernhardt Harting. Mr. Noling has always maintained his innocence. Mr. Howe’s public request follows an August 25 decision from the Ohio Parole Board recommending that Gov. DeWine grant Mr.
Aug 26, 2026
Ohio Parole Board Recommends Commutation of Death Sentence for Tyrone Noling Following Rare Opportunity for Hearing
On August 25, 2026, the Ohio Parole Board recommended, following a full clemency hearing a week earlier, that Governor Mike DeWine grant death-sentenced prisoner Tyrone Noling a commutation and parole eligibility beginning January 1, 2029. Mr. Noling had asked the parole board for a full pardon, but the board, in a split vote, instead recommended a sentence commutation and parole eligibility. Mr. Noling has spent 30 years on Ohio’s death row for the murders of an elderly couple but has always…
New Voices
,Jun 18, 2026
Former Death Penalty Supporter Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Urges Abolition of the Death Penalty
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (pictured), a Republican, said on June 16, 2026 that he now believes Ohio should abolish the death penalty. Gov. DeWine helped to write the state’s death penalty law while serving as a state legislator in 1981, but has halted executions during his time as governor, citing concerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol. In a statement, Gov. DeWine described his 50 years of reflection about the death penalty, beginning with his positions in the Ohio legislature…
Apr 16, 2026
Ohio Court Vacates Charles Maxwell’s Death Sentence Under State’s Serious Mental Illness Law
On April 7, 2026, a Cuyahoga County judge vacated the death sentence of Charles Maxwell and ordered his resentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After an evidentiary hearing, the court found that Mr. Maxwell suffered from delusional disorder, caused by several traumatic brain injuries, at the time of the crime for which he was sentenced to death. According to data from the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Mr. Maxwell’s resentencing marks the 10th grant of relief under…
Methods of Execution
,Apr 09, 2026
Two Reports from Ohio Draw Starkly Different Conclusions about the Future of the State’s Death Penalty System
Ohio’s capital punishment system has come into sharp focus with the release of two reports that examine four decades of the state’s death penalty record and draw starkly different conclusions about the future of Ohio’s death penalty. On March 30, Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) published Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Confronting the Wrongful Conviction Crisis in the State of Ohio, documenting the record of mistakes and errors that resulted in 12 exonerations. “The death penalty in Ohio is a system…
Research
Methods of Execution
,Feb 02, 2024
Ohio Officials Divided on Death Penalty as Attorney General Pushes New Bill to Legalize Nitrogen Hypoxia for Executions
On Tuesday, January 30, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced new legislation to authorize the use of nitrogen gas in executions in the state. Joined by several Republican state representatives and Louis Tobin of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, AG Yost said that he is seeking to “kickstart” Ohio’s death penalty after a six-year pause in executions due to difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs. “The status quo is unacceptable,” he said. According to the text of the…
Research
New Voices
,Dec 13, 2023
After Five-Year Execution Pause, Ohio Leaders Question Value of Death Penalty
A proposed death penalty repeal bill in the Ohio legislature is drawing attention to the state’s five-year pause on executions, and leading state officials from both parties to question whether the death penalty system is working. Ohio Attorney General David Yost (pictured) summed up the situation by saying, “This system satisfies nobody. Those who oppose the death penalty want it abolished altogether, not ticking away like a time bomb that might or might not explode. Those who support the…
Research
Sep 12, 2023
Ohio General Assembly Resumes Bipartisan Efforts to Abolish the Death Penalty
On September 6, 2023, a bipartisan group of Ohio state representatives reintroduced a bill that would abolish the death penalty and replace the punishment with life in prison without parole. Legislators in Ohio have debated the use of capital punishment for nearly a decade, but this renewed effort comes after state senators introduced Senate Bill 101 earlier in the year, which would also abolish the use of capital punishment. Among the primary sponsors of these bills is Representative Jean…
Research
New Voices
,Aug 09, 2023
NEW VOICES: Op-Eds Highlight Opposing Viewpoints on Ohio’s Death Penalty
In light of the five-year anniversary of Ohio’s last execution, two op-eds highlighting different views about the death penalty were published in the Dayton Daily News. On August 1, Louis Tobin (pictured right), Executive Director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, expressed his support for the death penalty, and two days later, Reverend Dr. Crystal Walker (pictured left), co-chair of Ohioans to Stop Executions, expressed her support for alternatives to the death penalty. As the…
Issues
Jul 18, 2023
Ohio Joins Fifteen Other States Without an Execution in 5 Years
Today marks the five-year anniversary of Ohio’s last execution, which took place on July 18, 2018. Ohio now joins 15 other states without an execution in the past five years. Although there is no formal moratorium, Governor Mike DeWine has issued several reprieves due to concerns about the lethal injection protocol and the difficulty the state has had obtaining lethal injection drugs. Ohio has executed 56 people in the modern death penalty era, placing it 8th overall in the number of executions…
Research
New Voices
,Apr 26, 2023
EDITORIALS: Cleveland Plain Dealer Endorses Death Penalty Abolition Bill
The board of Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer published an editorial supporting the passage of Senate Bill 101 that would abolish the death penalty in Ohio. “[T]he time is right,” states the piece, “for the General Assembly to come together to end capital punishment in Ohio. Its inequities are manifest, its barbarism is clear — and its time has passed.” According to the editorial, Senate Bill 101 currently has bipartisan support among “more than a third of the state Senate. …[and] runs the…
Issues
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 capital punishment in the Buckeye State. “Like so many Ohioans, I once supported capital punishment and over time, with prayer and reflection have come to believe it’s the wrong policy for the state of Ohio,” said Sen. Steve Huffman (R – Tipp City…
Executions
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 in 2021. In a December 8, 2020 year-end interview with Associated Press, DeWine said the state has an “unofficial moratorium” on the death penalty as a result of its inability to procure lethal injection execution drugs and that legislators would have to choose a different method of…
Jan 06, 2020
Criticism by Government Leaders, Victim’s Son Fuel Growing Doubts About Viability of Ohio’s Death Penalty
With executions on hold due to problems with the lethal-injection protocol, the future of capital punishment in Ohio is uncertain. High-ranking Ohio officials have expressed concerns about the effectiveness and viability of the state’s death penalty, and two recent columns in leading Ohio newspapers have argued that the state should end capital punishment. In a year-end interview with the Toledo Blade, Governor Mike DeWine intimated that Ohio’s death penalty was both unworkable in practice and…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Oct 31, 2019
Georgia Supreme Court, Ohio Governor Provisionally Halt Three Executions
Three U.S. executions were halted on October 30, 2019, as the Georgia Supreme Court issued a day-of-execution stay to Ray Jefferson Cromartie and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (pictured) granted warrants of reprieve to the next two death-row prisoners scheduled for execution in Ohio. The actions capped a tumultuous October in which nine of ten scheduled executions did not take place and federal courts stayed two other executions set for later in the year. Shortly after noon on October 30, the Georgia…
Research
New Voices
,Aug 23, 2019
Ohio House Speaker Expresses Doubts About Death Penalty, as Opioid Experts, Governor Blast Call to Use Seized Fentanyl for Executions
The turmoil surrounding Ohio’s death penalty continued to grow as public health experts criticized a legislator’s suggestion that the state use seized drugs to carry out executions and the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder (pictured), expressed growing doubts about capital punishment itself. Governor Mike DeWine joined critics of the fentanyl proposal, declaring that it was “not an option” for resuming executions in the state. The future of Ohio’s execution…