WHO’S ON DEATH ROW LOCALLY?
Ohio Death Row has 141 inmates including the following from the Dayton-Springfield-Middletown area:
Butler County: Von Davis, Donald Ketterer, Jose Loza, Calvin McKelton, Gregory Osie, Kenneth Smith, Clifford Williams
Clark County: Timothy Coleman, Jason Dean, Juan Kinley, Kerry Perez, William Sapp
Greene County: Richard Bay, David Myers
Montgomery County: Davel Chinn, Antonio Franklin, Larry Gapen, Samuel Moreland, Duane Short
Warren County: Austin Myers
Republican Niraj Antani is pushing for an end to capital punishment in Ohio, saying the lengthy appeals are too expensive, the death penalty grants government too much power and the risk of executing an innocent person is too great.
Antani, R-Miami Twp., is teaming up with Democrat Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, on a bill to abolish Ohio’s death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole.
“I think there is a growing movement to ending the death penalty. I have four other Republican members who have privately committed their support to me if it gets on the House floor. We see a movement in the GOP to repeal the death penalty,” Antani said in an email. “Nebraska is the perfect example.”
Nebraska repealed its death penalty law in May when its legislature over rode the governor’s veto. It was the first predominately Republican state to abolish capital punishment in 40 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Antani also said that he opposes the death penalty for the same reasons that he opposes abortion.
“Abolishing the death penalty is the pro-life view. I am pro-life from conception to natural death. The six Ohioans on death row who were exonerated were almost put to death even though they were innocent,” he said.
Ohio’s current death penalty law went into effect in 1981 but the state has largely had capital punishment since 1803. To date, Ohio has executed 393 people, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Currently, there are 141 inmates on Ohio Death Row, including seven from Butler County, five from Montgomery County, five from Clark County, two from Greene County and one from Warren County. The Ohio Supreme Court has set execution dates for 21.
In January 2014, Ohio made international news when it used a previously untested combination of lethal injection drugs on inmate Dennis McGuire of Preble County. During the prolonged execution — 26 minutes — McGuire gasped, choked and snorted while unconscious, according to media witness accounts. In 1989, McGuire raped and murdered Joy Stewart, who was pregnant.
Fifty-six percent of Americans favor capital punishment, down from 78 percent in 1995, according to Gallup polls.
Antani said he is working to persuade his fellow Republican lawmakers, who traditionally have supported capital punishment as a central tenet to being tough on crime. “To me it’s actually harder on crime to have these murderers stay in prison for the rest of their life. ”
Catholic Conference of Ohio Associate Director Jim Tobin said faith leaders last considered pushing a citizen-initiated statute to outlaw the death penalty some 20 years ago. While there is talk of reviving that effort, Tobin said he is not sure that now is the right time to do so.
A citizen-initiated statute requires collection of 91,677 valid Ohio voter signatures in favor of submitting a bill to the General Assembly, which would then have four months to vote on it. If the lawmakers fail to act or pass an amended version, the citizens can collect another 91,677 signatures to place the question before voters statewide.
In early 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court and Ohio State Bar Association’s death penalty task force recommended the most sweeping reforms Ohio has seen in 30 years to its capital punishment system. The panel, which purposely did not examine the abolition question, made 56 recommendations to promote fairness in the system, including:
Banning the execution of inmates with serious mental illness;
Requiring higher levels of physical evidence, such as DNA or videotaped confessions, in capital cases;
Prohibiting death penalty convictions based solely on jailhouse snitch testimony; and
Requiring crime labs used in capital cases be accredited.
County prosecutors serving on the task force issued a 56-page dissent outlining their opposition to several key recommendations. “The work of the Task Force was strongly influenced by a pro-defense majority bent on an agenda of abolition, not fairness,” the prosecutors said.
Legislation pending in the Ohio Senate would ban executions of inmates with serious mental illness. Its sponsors include Sens. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, and Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering.
About the Author
