COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican State Senator Michele Reynolds (R- Canal Winchester) is renewing the call to end the death penalty in Ohio. She says the time is right to have the conversation because there has been a pause on executions under Gov. Mike DeWine.
Senator Reynolds says the main reason she wants to abolish the death penalty is her belief that life is from the womb to the tomb.
"I don't think it necessarily matters being pro-life just when we're talking about babies," Reynolds said. "I think being pro-life is really about life period, all life."
Reynolds also says the death penalty does not necessarily mean closure for victims' families.
"There have been a lot of families who have spoken about the death penalty just saying that because of the appeals and them having to relive and not really getting justice," Reynolds said.
Companion bills in the Ohio House and Senate would abolish the death penalty and require life sentences for those convicted of aggravated murder. Just this past June, the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus pushed for them to be passed.
The bills have bi-partisan support but have not moved out of committee since being introduced in 2023.
Reynolds and House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D- Upper Arlington) say bi-partisan support continues to grow, but believe it could take a long time to make a major policy change on the death penalty.
"Based on, I think what I've seen and the priorities of the majority party in this state, I suspect that this is something that is going to take a number of years," Russo said. "It's an opportunity to have ongoing conversations, to build support in our communities because these types of efforts do require broad coalitions to get behind them."
According to this year's "Capital Crimes Report," 119 inmates are sitting on Ohio's death row. The state last carried out an execution in 2018.
DeWine has instituted an unofficial moratorium on executions citing the lack of lethal injection drugs, and has said there will be no executions while he is in office.
"Even if it takes a while for us to get this right, I mean it just seems like there's been this stay, and we're in limbo and I think that's the closure we need to move this forward," Reynolds said.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 21 states still have the death penalty. Ohio is one of six states that have paused executions by executive action. Twenty-three states have no death penalty, including the Midwestern states of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Washington, Colorado and Virginia abolished their death penalties within the last six years.
Reynolds believes it's time to be in the latter group.
"I just think at this point we can join other Midwestern states and move forward in this conversation, and I think it's a conversation worth having," Reynolds said.
Alternative method of execution
The push to end the death penalty in Ohio comes at a time when other state lawmakers are pushing to end the unofficial moratorium on executions. One of the officials calling for nitrogen hypoxia to be used as an alternative method when lethal injection drugs are not available is Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
"This is not something to be taken lightly," Yost said about the death penalty in January. "At the same time, there are crimes so heinous and against humanity that they deserve the ultimate punishment."
The push to restart the death penalty is happening in the General Assembly. House Bill 392 is currently in the House Government Oversight Committee.
This bill would allow inmates to choose to have either lethal injection or nitrogen hypoxia for their executions. If the injection drugs are not available, then nitrogen would be used.
The method suffocates the inmate by replacing the air they breathe with pure nitrogen.