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Now that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has instructed lawmakers to choose a different method, local prosecutors are taking offense to the governor’s “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment in the state.
DeWine last week said it’s “pretty clear” there won’t be any executions in 2021, and he doesn’t think there is enough support in the Legislature to prioritize a switch in the execution method.
Ohio has an “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment, DeWine said. Yet some states and the federal government have managed to successfully execute inmates this year
According to figures provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, six executions were scheduled in Ohio for 2021. Right now there are eight people on death row from Trumbull County cases, and three from Mahoning County cases.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains said he hopes the governor and the lawmakers can get together and fix this problem so that capital punishment can resume.
“They’ve got to straighten this out somehow,” Gains said, adding that the governor’s action will not make him stop prosecuting capital cases if the facts warrant it. “A moratorium does not mean that we cannot go for the death penalty in court.”
Gains and his staff are dealing with a new capital murder case. Kimonie D. Bryant, 24, of Struthers, faces aggravated murder in the September shooting death of 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney. Bryant has pleaded not guilty.
Gains’ counterpart in Trumbull County, Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, said he hopes the moratorium can be lifted for the sake of victims’ families. They “are left twisting in the wind,” he said.
Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator.