COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released the 2023 Capital Crimes Report today, reiterating his call for reform of the state’s capital punishment system.
“No criminal penalty – capital or otherwise – should carry an empty promise of justice,” Yost said. “Ohioans on both sides of the death-penalty debate can agree that our current system of capital punishment is unworkable, and something needs to change.”
The report, mandated by law, details the history of every death sentence in Ohio since 1981. Key findings include:
- Only 56 of 341 death sentences (1 in 6) have been carried out.
- The state’s last execution was July 18, 2018 – over five years ago.
- Currently, 119 Death Row inmates face a combined 121 death sentences.
- On average, condemned inmates spend over 21 years on Death Row before execution.
Yost attributes the delays to lengthy appeals processes and difficulty obtaining execution drugs. In January, he proposed permitting nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative to lethal injection.
The report highlights the plight of victims’ families like those of Esther and Ashley Cook, murdered in 1999. Their killer, Stanley Adams, remains on Death Row over 22 years later due to execution rescheduling.
“You don’t really know until it happens to you — the severity and the impact — and how much it changes your heart, mind and soul,” said Kimberly Cook, Esther’s daughter. “And the fact that there is no justice is worse.”
Yost concludes by urging Ohio’s elected officials to address the dysfunction, stating, “It’s time Ohio’s leaders fix this system, and deliver on the promise of justice.”
The Ohio ACLU has been an outspoken critic of the use of the death penalty in Ohio. According to their website, “The ACLU opposes capital punishment because it violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, is administered arbitrarily and unfairly, and fails to deter crime or improve public safety.”
This comes as Republican state lawmakers push to use nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection.
Background on Executions in Ohio
Ohio’s last execution took place on July 18, 2018, when Robert Van Hook was put to death by lethal injection for the 1985 murder of a man he met in a Cincinnati bar. Since then, all executions in the state have been on hold as officials grapple with challenges in securing the lethal injection medications.
In the wake of the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kenneth Smith in Alabama, Ohio Republicans are pushing for a similar method to be adopted in the Buckeye State. Smith met his end on January 25th, condemned for the murder of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennet.
The use of nitrogen gas, however, has sparked outcry from anti-death penalty advocates who argue that it inflicts cruel and unusual punishment. Critics point to the gas’s asphyxiating effects, leading to a protracted and potentially agonizing death, as demonstrated in Smith’s case.