Gov. Mike DeWine’s call to end capital punishment in Ohio doesn’t have a chance of passing the state Legislature, which won’t even consider it at this point.

But DeWine’s long-awaited and expected announcement Tuesday at least renews the conversation.

There’s been a de facto ban on the death penalty since DeWine, a Republican, became governor on Jan. 14, 2019. That same day, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz issued a decision calling into question the state’s death penalty protocol of using drugs through lethal injection as inhumane.

DeWine said it eventually became clear to him that the state could not obtain the drugs needed to carry out an execution order without risking pharmaceutical companies refusing to supply needed therapeutic drugs to Ohio — “a risk I was not and am not willing to take.”

What DeWine didn’t mention was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in June 2017 overturned the injunction against the state’s lethal-injection protocol.

DeWine said in December he was rethinking his position on capital punishment and that an announcement would come soon.

One thing I’ve learned about covering DeWine for more than a quarter of a century is that while oftentimes his decisions are predictable — though he shocked me and many with his February 2025 appointment of Jim Tressel as lieutenant governor — is that he operates on his own time.

Some decisions come quick while others take far more time than you could imagine.

Not that the timing of DeWine’s opposition to the death penalty impacts the legislative branch. The General Assembly isn’t going to meet again until after the Nov. 3 general election except the House is supposed to have a final session day on Wednesday.

There are zero plans by the Republican-controlled state Legislature to even discuss DeWine’s request to take action to abolish the death penalty. Barring that, DeWine wants the Legislature to put the issue in front of voters for a decision. That won’t happen either.

After the governor’s announcement, Ohio Speaker of the House Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said: “For many years — and even as recently as February — I have been clear in my support for maintaining the death penalty in Ohio for the most heinous crimes. While I respect Gov. DeWine’s perspective, I disagree with his conclusion that the General Assembly should eliminate capital punishment altogether.”

No bills are introduced in the state House without the approval of Huffman, who is the most powerful person in state government.

With Huffman shutting it down, the abolition of the death penalty is a nonstarter as most of his members follow his lead, even if they don’t agree with him.

While in the state Senate, DeWine co-sponsored legislation in 1981 that led to the reinstatement of the death penalty in Ohio.

But DeWine showed statistics that there’s been a significant decline in the number of capital punishment convictions over the years.

DeWine said: “It would seem that if the death penalty were an actual deterrent for some people, it would need to happen swiftly, quickly and with certainty. Yet, statistically, the odds of the death penalty actually being carried out are very low and if it is carried out, it is all but guaranteed that it will take a long time for it to happen.”

DeWine said of the last 10 people executed by the state, the elapsed time between sentencing and execution ranged from a low of 14 years and a high of 32 years with an average time of 21 years.

Also, of the 337 people who received a death sentence since 1981, 56 were executed with 41 dying of either natural causes or suicide and 89 death sentences removed based on judicial action, mostly because of legal errors.

Right now, DeWine is only pushing for the Legislature to do something — which it won’t.

DeWine didn’t offer reprieves to anyone on death row, but he declined to say if he would do so before his term ends Jan. 11.

Andy Wilson, who DeWine recently appointed as attorney general after Dave Yost resigned, said he’s handled several death penalty cases and understands its value “as an option for prosecutors and victims in very limited circumstances.”

Wilson said he was “relieved that the governor didn’t use the power of commutation to undo the decision of prosecutors, juries and judges who are closest to the facts and evidence in these cases.”

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, the longest-serving county prosecutor in the state and a strong supporter of the death penalty, said he disagrees with DeWine’s opinion.

Watkins, a Democrat, said the state “should resume executions as soon as practical as has nearly a dozen other states have done, including the neighboring state of Indiana, which had suspended executions for 15 years before resuming in 2025 because of the inability of its Department of Corrections to get lethal injection drugs.”

Watkins added: “Ohio has paused executions with numerous reprieves for eight years. How can you deter murderers when you don’t execute them and capital crime defendants get to appeal forever and many of those appeals are frivolous and costly?”

David Skolnick covers local, state and national politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.