After Alabama executed a man using nitrogen gas Thursday鈥攖he first time it had been administered on an individual in the country鈥檚 known history鈥攕ome Ohio lawmakers may too be eyeing lethal injection alternatives.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, alongside State Reps. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) and Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), said in a news release Monday they want to see the standstill in death penalty enforcement 鈥渒ickstarted.鈥�
The three of them will be joined by Lou Tobin, the executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, at a news conference Tuesday morning.
鈥淣o method of execution is going to be acceptable to people who don't think we should have a death penalty at all,鈥� Tobin said in an interview Monday morning. 鈥淏ut I'm paying attention to what the elected officials in Alabama said about it, and to me, they made it sound like a success.鈥�
Alabama corrections workers executed Kenneth Smith on Thursday night by nitrogen hypoxia鈥攅ssentially, asphyxiating him via a gas mask鈥攁fter a botched attempt at lethal injection on Smith in November 2022.
More than 100 men and one woman are incarcerated on death row in Ohio, according to Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections data. The state has not gone through with an execution since July 2018, closing in on six years and extending the entirety of Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 tenure.
The standstill is due, in part, to pharmaceutical companies鈥� opposition to use of their products in the drug concoction that creates a lethal injection.
Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine, said Monday the governor hasn鈥檛 changed his stance on the issue. Tierney called the use of lethal injection an 鈥渦ntenable situation,鈥� but declined to comment on whether DeWine would back the use of nitrogen gas if lawmakers choose to add it as an alternative.
鈥淲e have legitimate and there are legitimate questions about whether Ohio is even looking for the drugs for lethal injection,鈥� Tobin said.
But Tobin said the 鈥渦ndue delay鈥� is unfair to both those on death row, and the crime victims and their family.
Each chamber of the Ohio Legislature would have to pass any change to how the state administers the death penalty, since presently, the only codified method is lethal injection.
A growing cohort of lawmakers on both sides have proposed abolishing the practice altogether over the last decade. Bills introduced in both the Ohio House and Senate this legislative session would get rid of the death penalty. Neither have moved out of committee.
