Death sentences down by a third

Executions were carried out in six states, and the 28 executions were the fewest in 27 years. Executions hit a peak of 98 in 1999.

Ohio halted executions as it struggles to obtain lethal injection drugs required by the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Ohio’s last execution, in January 2014, took roughly 26 minutes as condemned killer-rapist Dennis McGuire gasped and choked while officials used a previously untested lethal drug combination on him.

“The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly rare and increasingly isolated in the United States. These are not just annual blips in statistics, but reflect a broad change in attitudes about capital punishment across the country,” said Robert Dunham, DPIC’s Executive Director, in a written statement.

A little more than six in 10 Americans support the death penalty in murder cases, down from 80 percent support in 1994, according to Gallup Poll. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia prohibit capital punishment and seven of those states imposed a ban since 2007.

Ohio has 139 men and one woman on its death row. To date, the state has executed 393 convicted murderers, according to the DRC. Nine Ohio death row inmates have been exonerated and freed. Late last year, three men — Ricky Jackson, Wiley Bridgeman and Kwame Ajamu — were exonerated in Cuyahoga County after serving more than 39 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said in a written statement: “We know that more Ohioans prefer life without parole instead of the death penalty when pollsters give that option. With no executions expected for at least another year and only one new death sentence in 2015, perhaps it’s time for the legislature to end executions once and for all in our state, rather than wasting time and money trying fix it.”

A Death Penalty Task Force convened in 2011 by the Ohio Supreme Court recommended 56 changes to make administration of capital punishment more just. County prosecutors opposed several key reforms that they said would make imposing a death sentence nearly impossible.

One bill co-sponsored by state Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miami Twp., would abolish the death penalty while another pending bill would bar execution of inmates diagnosed with serious mental illness.