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Updated 02.04.10 The ACLU opposes capital punishment
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.
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
New execution procedures
On December 8, 2009, Ohio became the first state to execute someone
with a never before used one-drug lethal injection method.
Executions in Ohio were suspended until December 8, 2009, following the botched execution attempt of Romell Broom
on September 15. Broom was granted a court-ordered stay of his
execution.
Lawrence Reynolds, who was scheduled to be executed on October 8, 2009, received a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in light of what happened to Broom. Then, on October 5th the governor announced that executions for October and November would be postponed to allow time for the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to consider alternative procedures.
On November 13th, 2009, the state announced
new execution procedures that would go into effect by November 30, 2009. The primary method of execution would still require setting up an IV line, the same procedure that failed with Romell Broom. If an IV line could be established, the condemned would be given just one drug, a high dose of a sedative. The state also established a back up procedure. If an IV line could not be established, the condemned would be given two drugs injected by a needle directly into a muscle. Neither of these methods had
ever been used in an execution.
A few weeks later, the state resumed executions under the new untested, experimental protocol.
But it is only a matter of time until something else goes wrong, because the
state refuses to address the underlying systemic problems in Ohio's death penalty.
The State of Ohio has one person per month scheduled for execution through June 2010.
There remain serious risks that something could go horribly wrong with any of these executions. Please keep calling and writing the Governor to urge an indefinite halt to executions.
ACLU calls for moratorium on executions
Three executions plagued by problems in as many years illustrates the need for
an immediate moratorium and review of procedures.
- Read the September 15, 2009
press release calling for an immediate halt to all executions.
- Read the September 18, 2009
press release
regarding our public records request for details on the failed
September 15th execution attempt.
- Read the September 30, 2009 press release
criticizing the state for refusing to review the failed execution.
- Read the October 7, 2009
press release condemning the state for considering untested execution methods and our
records request
for details on the new methods under consideration.
- Read the December 8, 2009
press release decrying the state’s decision to resume executions.
- Call Governor Strickland
to stop executions now!
Execution dates set by Ohio Supreme Court
Romell Broom, September 15, 2009
Attempted execution on Sept. 15 failed, court ordered stay
preventing another attempt while litigation continues.
Lawrence Reynolds, October 8, 2009
Court ordered stay of execution and granted reprieve
from governor until March 9, 2010
Darryl Durr, November 10, 2009
Granted reprieve from governor until April 20, 2010
Kenneth Biros, December 8, 2009
Executed December 8, 2009
Vernon Lamont Smith n.k.a. Abdullah Sharif Kaazim Mahdienneth, January 7, 2010
Executed January 7, 2010
Mark Brown, February 4, 2010
Executed February 4, 2010
Lawrence Reynolds, March 9, 2010
Rescheduled from October 2009, but stay remains in place
Darryl Durr, April 20, 2010
Rescheduled from November 2009
Michael Beuke, May 13, 2010
Richard Nields, June 10, 2010
William Garner, July 13, 2010
Roderick Davie, August 10, 2010
Kevin Keith, September 15, 2010
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.
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 State of Ohio v. Ruben Rivera and State of Ohio v. Ronald
McCloud, Judge James Burge 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 appealed, but the it was dismissed it on procedural grounds.
Common Pleas Court judgment
06.11.08
press release
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.
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.
READ MORE»
Why the ACLU of Ohio supports the public
viewing of executions
READ MORE»
Resources
For a list of all executions carried out since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, visit the
Death Penalty Information Center
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
The Reality of the Death Penalty,
by
Jeff Gamso, former ACLU of Ohio Legal Director.
In Spanish.
Capital Defense Handbook for Defendants and Their Families
Read death penalty news releases and articles in our
News Center.
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