Ohio has a long history of administering capital punishment. Like many states, Ohio’s tactics for executing its prisoners has evolved to what some consider more humane ways to end human life.

Early years and use of the death penalty

Early in the days of statehood, Ohio carried out executions by publicly hanging the condemned. Executions began in Ohio as a county responsibility but became a state responsibility in 1895, when all hangings moved to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Inmates, then as today, were tried in the counties where the crimes or offenses took place. Ohio continued to hang prisoners until 1897, when the electric chair was first introduced in Ohio.

Use of electric chair

In 1897, the Ohio General Assembly adopted the use of the electric chair to carry out the death penalty. William Haas, 17, was the first to be executed by electrocution. In total, 312 men and three women died in the electric chair during its use. Columbus resident Donald Reinbold was the last person executed by the electric chair in March 1963.

The United States Supreme Court decided the case of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) in June 1972. The petitioner argued that the state of Georgia’s death penalty violated the accused’s Eighth Amendment rights from cruel and unusual punishment. As a result of the court’s ruling to place a moratorium on the death penalty nationwide, 65 inmates on Ohio’s death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Between 1803 and 1972, 438 people had been executed in Ohio.

Ohio reinstates, Supreme Court rules on mitigating factors

The Ohio legislature revised the death penalty in 1974 to make it mandatory for certain crimes. Less than four years later, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Ohio’s death penalty was unconstitutional in the case of Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586 (1978), stating that “Ohio death penalty statute does not permit the type of individualized consideration of mitigating factors we now hold to be required by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments in capital cases.” After this ruling, 100 Ohio inmates had their sentences reduced to life in prison.

Ohio guides discretion

In 1981, the Ohio General Assembly re-enacted the death penalty under the guise of “guided discretion.” Ten months later, Leonard Jenkins became the first person convicted under the revised statute.

In April of 1988, Ohioans to Stop Executions was formed. Three years later, Governor Richard Celeste (D) commutes the sentences of 7 death row inmates in his final days in office.

Ohio opts for lethal injection, adds LWOP, then limits clemency powers

In 1993, Governor George Voinovich (R) and the Ohio legislature adopted lethal injection as one of two options for inmates sentenced to death. Less than one year later, on November 8, 1994, voters in Ohio elected to shorten the appeals process for death penalty cases. Seven months later, on June 28, 1995, the state added Life Without Parole (LWOP) as a sentencing option for aggravated murder. Just months after LWOP was established in Ohio, voters again amended the state constitution to limit the executive power to grant clemency by the governor.

Milestone for mental illness; electric chair eliminated

In 1999, Wilford Lee Berry, a prisoner known to suffer from schizophrenia and a well-documented victim of sexual abuse, became the first man executed by Ohio despite his long history of mental illness, dating back to the age of 14. He was the first man to offer to forgo his appeal options and request his death sentence be carried out immediately, perhaps indicating his mental incompetency. He was also the first person executed in Ohio since March 1963.

Governor Bob Taft (R) signed an executive order in 2001, eliminating the use of the electric chair in Ohio. Since then, the state used lethal injection to carry out all executions.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to prohibit the execution of those with “mental retardation” in the case of Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), stating that executing a person with mental retardation is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. In 2003, Governor Taft, commuted the sentence of Jerome Campbell to life without parole.

Progress and regression

In 2004, the Ohio House of Representatives introduced and passed a bill authorizing a comprehensive study to examine the way Ohio administers the death penalty. The Ohio Senate chose not to vote on the bill, effectively disabling the bill’s passage and derailing any review of the state’s death penalty practices.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the execution of minors in the case of Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005). Prior to the court’s ruling, minors had been executed on Ohio’s death row.

Ohio experienced its first seriously botched execution by lethal injection in May 2006 when Joseph Clark awoke after being given the first of three injections. Clark told his executioners that “it don’t work” before eventually succumbing to the chemicals. Media witnesses heard what they described as "moaning, crying out and guttural noises" behind a closed curtain. Clark’s vein collapsed after the first injection was given. Clark’s execution attempt lasted more than 80 minutes.

Just one year after the botched execution of Joseph Clark in May 2006, Christopher Newton’s execution by lethal injection lasted more than 2 hours. The procedure normally takes 10-12 minutes. The Associated Press reported that Newton was stuck with needles in at least 10 different places.

In late September 2007, the American Bar Association released a report outlining the problems with Ohio’s death penalty. The panel found that Ohio does not comply with 93% of the guidelines the ABA sets forth for capital punishment. Inconsistencies were found throughout the proceedings, from jury selection to clemency hearings. The panel recommended that Ohio place a moratorium on executions and conduct a review of its death penalty procedures. 

Lethal Injection Protocol Challenges

In September 2007 the United States Supreme Court agreed to decide the case of Baze v. Rees. Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol, a three-drug cocktail, was challenged as violating Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment. The Court handed down its decision in April 2008, saying that Kentucky’s protocol does not pose unnecessary risks of causing unusual pain and suffering. The decision was extremely narrow and was fact-specific to only Kentucky’s method of injection. A de facto moratorium went into effect in Ohio as the Baze decision was pending before the United States Supreme Court.

While the U.S. Supreme Court was considering lethal injection in Baze, several cases had been ongoing in lower level courts throughout Ohio. One case, Cooey v. Strickland, challenged when a petitioner could file for a specific kind of relief under federal habeus statutes. Twenty-two other death row inmates were allowed to join Mr. Cooey’s challenge, which was pending as a result of the Baze decision.

A second lethal injection challenge from Baze was taking place in the case of State v. Rivera and McCloud, respectively.  The judge in this case agreed to hear a pre-trial motion by the defense that the death penalty violates protection from cruel and unusual punishment under the Ohio constitution. In June 2008 the judge ruled that the state of Ohio must change its protocol from three drugs to one because the protocol proved to violate the state’s statute prescribing a quick and painless death. Within 18 months of this decision, Ohio changed its execution protocol to one dose of sodium thiopenthal for executions. Ohio was the first state in the country to use just one drug for execution.

The Baze decision was issued by the United States Supreme Court in April 2008. Executions resumed in Ohio in October of that year when Richard Cooey was executed.

In December 2009, Ohio became the first state in the country to adopt a one-drug execution protocol using sodium thiopenthal. About a year later, Ohio changed its protocol again to a one-drug dose of pentobarbitol, which is commonly used to euthanize animals.