{"id":198,"date":"2026-06-19T15:37:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=198"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:37:41","slug":"why-ohio-governor-mike-dewine-changed-his-mind-on-the-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=198","title":{"rendered":"Why Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Changed His Mind on the Death Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has had a change of heart on the death penalty.<\/p>\n

DeWine, who is approaching the end of his second term in the Ohio governor\u2019s mansion, came out Tuesday against capital punishment, publicly encouraging the legislature to overturn a law he helped author while he was in the state Senate in 1981.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s an evolution of understanding,\u201d DeWine told National Review<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Though critics claim that DeWine\u2019s term-limited status prompted him to finally reveal his long-held position \u2014 he concludes his time as state governor in January 2027 \u2014 DeWine said his perspective has been taking shape for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I voted in favor of the death penalty bill . . . I felt that in some cases it was, in fact, a deterrent,\u201d he said, explaining that he believed the threat of the death penalty might drive down homicide rates.<\/p>\n

Now, after decades of experience working on criminal justice policy and serving as an executive with the power to commute death penalty sentences, DeWine sees the law differently. Formerly a county prosecuting attorney, member of the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and Ohio\u2019s attorney general, DeWine said he has had the past 50 years to look into this issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we have different facts\u00a0today than\u00a0we did\u00a0the day that we voted on it,\u201d he told NR.<\/p>\n

He is specifically concerned about the length of time it takes for criminals to be executed today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would seem that if the death penalty were an actual deterrent for some people, it would need to happen swiftly, quickly, and with certainty,\u201d he said during Tuesday\u2019s press conference. <\/em>DeWine told NR that it ultimately did not seem possible to \u201cdramatically cut down on the time\u201d between conviction and execution, given that convicts are entitled to a lengthy appeal process that can in some cases stretch for decades.<\/p>\n

He also said there have been fewer death penalty sentences handed down over the past several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the last six years, we\u2019ve had two people convicted of the death count in all the state of Ohio \u2014 in all 88 counties,\u201d he told NR, explaining that this was largely the case \u201ceven excluding the last seven years since I\u2019ve been governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeWine said his close contact with Ohio\u2019s past four prison directors also shaped his decision.<\/p>\n

He told NR that he saw the penalty\u2019s impact on them as they prepared for the execution as well as the weight on the prison staff who perform and deal with its aftermath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s something that\u2019s not usually thought about,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, they volunteer to do it, but they do it at our request \u2014 the people of the state\u2019s request \u2014 and they also bear a pretty heavy burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one has been executed since DeWine came into office in January 2019, Ohio\u2019s last execution being that of Robert Van Hook on July 18, 2018. There are currently 114 convicts on death row in Ohio, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.<\/p>\n

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The case of murderer Warren Henness was DeWine\u2019s first death row case bearing consideration as Ohio governor. Less than two weeks after being sworn into office, DeWine received a federal court order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Merz preventing him from executing Henness with the usual lethal-injection drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cExecuting him by Ohio\u2019s current three-drug protocol will certainly or very likely cause him severe pain and needless suffering,\u201d Merz said in the order. \u201cReading the plain language of the Eighth Amendment, that should be enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, DeWine rescheduled Henness\u2019s February 2019 execution for September 2019. He later rescheduled it again for May 2020.<\/p>\n

The state had also been struggling to acquire the necessary lethal-injection drugs. Pharmaceutical manufacturers were unwilling to sell specific drugs to the state if they were suspected to be used in executions. DeWine asked the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to look into other options, but the delay created an additional backlog of executions.<\/p>\n

In March 2019, DeWine rescheduled the executions of inmates Cleveland Jackson, Kareem Jackson, and Gregory Lott as well as those of several other convicts later in the year.<\/p>\n

Henness, Cleveland Jackson, and Kareem Jackson are still currently on death row in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.<\/p>\n

Henness\u2019s execution date is December 15, 2027. Kareem Jackson\u2019s is October 11, 2028, and Cleveland Jackson\u2019s is June 13, 2029.<\/p>\n

In response to a parole board recommendation and a county common pleas court motion \u201cfor Relief from Judgment\u201d because of Lott\u2019s mental state, DeWine commuted Lott\u2019s death sentence, lowering it to life without parole last month.<\/p>\n

For DeWine, Tuesday\u2019s statement was the culmination of extensive thought and research on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working on this for some time, and I wrote it and rewrote it and rewrote it,\u201d he told NR. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I had intended to do prior to now, but with all the other things I do as governor, it just got pushed back.\u201d He finally completed the last edit several days ago.<\/p>\n

DeWine recognized that pushback from both parties was inevitable but is confident in his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an issue that very good people have very different points\u00a0of view,\u201d DeWine told NR. \u201cAnd I respect their points of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Citing a personal \u2018evolution of understanding,\u2019 DeWine is now calling on the state legislature to overturn a bill he helped author.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Changed His Mind on the Death Penalty - American Housing Transition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanhousingtransition.com\/?p=198\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Changed His Mind on the Death Penalty - 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