July 26, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kevin Werner, kwerner@otse.org
614-560-0654
After more than 3.5 years, Ohio carried out an execution. During the moratorium on executions, Ohio has failed to adopt long-overdue and sensible recommendations made by experts on the Supreme Court Death Penalty Task Force that would ensure fairness and accuracy of the death penalty system.
Because action has yet to be taken by the Supreme Court and General Assembly, Ohio’s death penalty system undoubtedly risks executing innocent men. One need look no further than the nine exonerated death row survivors.
Because action has yet to be taken, individuals with the most serious mental illnesses will continue to be sentenced to death and executed.
Because action has yet to be taken, the needs of murder victims’ family members will continue to go unmet.
Because action has yet to be taken, Ohio’s death penalty will continue to be disproportionality sought by only a handful of county prosecutors.
Because action has yet to be taken, Ohio’s death penalty will continue to produce outcomes that demonstrate unacceptable racial bias.
And because action has yet to be taken, Ohioans will continue to lose confidence in the death penalty system. This lack of fairness and accuracy is what gives Ohioans serious concern that our state will make the gravest of mistakes by executing an innocent person.
Ohio’s death row population may have decreased by one prisoner today, but 26 still await execution. We can no longer afford to let the known and identified problems to go unaddressed by state leaders.