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Death Penalty

Updated 04.09.09 The ACLU opposes capital punishment under all circumstances because it violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, is administered arbitrarily and unfairly, and fails to deter crime or improve public safety. Irrefutable evidence exists which demonstrates that the process by which the death penalty is applied is unfair and discriminatory.

The quality of legal representation is a better predictor of whether or not someone will be sentenced to death than the facts of the crime. Almost all people on death row could not afford to hire a qualified attorney.

Whether a defendant is sentenced to death depends more on the prosecutor’s decision to pursue capital sentencing, rather than the circumstances of the crime. The race of the victim is often an unspoken factor in capital sentencing decisions.

What's Happening in Ohio

Execution Dates Set by Ohio Supreme Court

Jeffrey Hill, March 3, 2009
Granted clemency on February 12, 2009. Read Governor Strickland's statement regarding Hill's clemency here.

Brett Hartman, April 7, 2009
Granted stay of execution on March 31, 2009

Daniel Wilson, June 3, 2009

John Fautenberry, July 14, 2009

Marvellous Keene, July 21, 2009

Jason Getsey, August 18, 2009

Romell Broom, September 15, 2009


Ohio Capital Crimes Annual Report

On April 1, 2009, Attorney General Richard Cordray released the state's annual report on death row and capital punishment statistics. Read the report

ACLU of Ohio Litigation

State v. Rivera and State v. McCloud
In June 2008, a judge agreed with the ACLU of Ohio that the way Ohio carries out executions is unconstitutional. In an opinion in the cases State of Ohio v. Ruben Rivera and State of Ohio v. Ronald McCloud, Judge James Burge of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas said that the three-drug cocktail used by Ohio and every other state to perform lethal injections carries "an unnecessary and arbitrary risk" of effectively torturing the inmate to death. That risk violates the rights of the accused to a quick and painless execution as mandated by Ohio law. The state's unwillingness to provide the condemned men and women what the law guarantees them violates their right to substantive due process.  The State has appealed. In March 2009, the Ninth District Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on procedural grounds. READ MORE» 

Read the Common Pleas Court judgment
Read our 06.11.08 press release
Read the Court of Appeals decision

Read Execution Protocols and Procedures for selecting members of the execution team and carrying out executions in Ohio.  These documents were released by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in these cases.

Foust v. Houk
The ACLU of Ohio represents Kelly Foust as he challenges his death sentence by application for a writ of habeas corpus. Foust was represented at trial by lawyers so incompetent that it was as if he had no counsel at all. The result is a conviction and death sentence which are altogether unreliable. We simply cannot have confidence that, had he been adequately represented, he would still have been found guilty and sentenced to die. READ MORE»

Apanovich v. Wilkinson
The State of Ohio conducts the “intubation phase” of the lethal injection process outside public view. The process of inserting the catheter into the veins of the condemned, while graphic and sometime gruesome, is a necessary part of the execution. READ MORE»

Why the ACLU of Ohio supports the public viewing of executions READ MORE»


Resources

History of Capital Punishment in Ohio

Ohio Death Penalty Information and News

Death Penalty Information Center is a great resource on issues concerning the death penalty nationwide.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty issues execution alerts with information on how to take action against upcoming executions.

Office of the Ohio Public Defender, Death Penalty Division maintains a list of people on Ohio’s death row, including the race of defendants and victims.

Read the American Bar Association's Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report

League of Women Voters study on the death penalty

Jeff Gamso, ACLU of Ohio Legal Director, The Reality of the Death Penalty. In Spanish.

Capital Defense Handbook for Defendants and Their Families

December 10, 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Read death penalty press releases and news articles in our News Center.