February updates regarding Ohio’s death penalty

Execution Updates:

A press release today (February 10th) from Governor Kasich’s office annonces that the execution schedule for Ohio’s Death Row has been revised. It states that the Ohio is confident that it will eventually win the appeal currently in process regarding the proposed drug cocktail to be implemented, the decision will likely not come before the February 15th execution date set for Ronald Phillips. The revised schedule is meant to ensure that all legal disputes are settled so that the executions can commence without further disruption. The first execution is now scheduled to be carried out on May 10th. See the press release for the full 2017 execution schedule.

Legislative Updates:

On February 8th, SB 40 was introduced by Senators Eklund and Williams to exclude the possibility of the death penalty for individuals suffering from serious mental illness at the time of a murder. Senators LaRose, Schiavoni, Brown, Thomas, Coley, Yuko and Terhar are co-sponsors.

HB 38 was introduced by Rep. Dave Greenspan from Westlake, Ohio to expand aggravated murder laws to allow the death penalty for the killings of first responders, federal officers or members of the military. Co-sponsors include Reps. Anielski, Barnes, Goodman, Keller., Kick, Lipps, Patton, Perales, Piedel, Retherford, Sprague, Thompson, Wiggam, Young.