GUEST EDITORIAL | Youngstown Vindicator

Capital punishment hangs in an awkward state of limbo in Ohio these days. Yes, the death penalty remains on the books, and, yes, 122 men and one woman await their fate on death row.

But, no, justice has not been served. Those inmates have been waiting an awful long time; some died of natural causes before an actual execution date had been set. Since the current capital punishment law was adopted in 1981, only 56 of some 341 death sentences have been carried out. In the past five years, zero executions have taken place. That’s a concerning track record, particularly for families of victims and others seeking long-delayed delivery of a deliberative jury’s well-reasoned verdict.

These long delays have resulted largely from Gov. Mike DeWine’s moratorium on executions following challenges attempting to use common execution drugs here and in other states. Ohio’s current law, however, permits only lethal injections as the Buckeye State’s method of execution.

That’s why DeWine recently told The Vindicator’s editor he sees no executions happening in Ohio throughout the end of his term in 2027.

“Our law says we can only do executions by lethal injections,” DeWine said. “I have been very public about saying what the drug companies have told us that they very well could retaliate, and if we use one of their drugs for lethal injections, they could retaliate, which could impact our health department, other departments being able to get the drugs they need to help people in the state of Ohio.”

DeWine has shared that concern with the legislature, yet lawmakers have taken no action to amend the law.

Attorney General Dave Yost offers some poignant perspective on this plight: “The bottom line: Ohio’s death penalty is a farce and a broken promise of justice — and it must be fixed.”

We agree and call on members of the Ohio General Assembly to resolve this dilemma. Members could opt, as several other states have done, to adopt an alternative form of capital punishment, such as electrocution, lethal gas, hanging or firing squad. Further, they could act to limit the number of permissible appeals for convicts who repeatedly abuse the criminal justice system.

The other option, of course, would be to abolish criminal executions in the state. Two bills in the legislature — Senate Bill 101 and House Bill 259 — aim to accomplish that. These bills, however, have been languishing in legislative committees for months.

We fully realize this issue is highly divisive, with Ohioans and Americans carrying very strong and differing beliefs. Because of that, we do not believe it is our place to opine on maintaining or abolishing this issue that triggers such passionate feelings.

However, we do believe doing nothing is not the answer. And from our perspective, that’s exactly what Ohio’s legislature has done. Frankly, it appears Ohio House and Senate members have lacked the political will to fix what Yost most accurately calls “a broken system.”

If for no other reason, lawmakers should act in the name of fiscal responsibility. A state estimate shows death sentences have cost Ohio taxpayers up to $384 million to care for and carry on seemingly never-ending legal casework for death row inmates. Some estimate the cost of caring for death row inmates is five times higher than the cost of care for those sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole.

Another major reason to act expeditiously lacks any numeric price tag. The emotional turmoil endured by families seeking justice for decades for their murdered loved ones is compounded by the seeming lack of any hope in sight for closure

Consider the case of the Mahoning Valley’s Danny Lee Hill Jr., a poster child for what ails capital punishment within the criminal justice system. Yost calls Hill’s case a microcosm of the system’s failure.

Hill of Warren has been on death row for 38 years and, in that time, has filed more than 25 appeals in his successful effort to delay death. So far, that strategy has worked just fine for him.

“Danny Lee Hill raped, tortured and murdered a 12-year old Warren boy, Raymond Fife, in 1985,” Yost said, adding that his ability to repeatedly delay what a jury determined to be just punishment for his unspeakable crimes just reinforces how broken the system is.

Ohio should not allow this state of limbo to endure much longer. It is costly to Ohio taxpayers and it is insensitive to heartbroken survivors of victims.

That means it is time for the legislature to act: Abolish capital punishment or adopt other means to ensure justice delayed too long for too many no longer is justice denied.