Gov. Mike DeWine is in the process of planning the commutations of multiple death sentences as he prepares to leave office. That's gotten pushback from one group, and praise from another.
"I'm going through a process that all governors do. But really, it's been an eight year process," DeWine said to reporters. "We've been issuing pardons when it was appropriate in cases all throughout an eight-year period of time. We are looking at the death penalty cases, but we are also looking at other cases as well."
DeWine added, "It's nothing unusual what normally happens at the end of a governor's term. But we've actually been doing it since the beginning."
There have been no executions since DeWine took office in 2019, which he had said was related to accessing drugs for Ohio's lethal injection protocol. In June, DeWine formally announced his opposition to capital punishment, saying there's no moral justification for it because it's not a deterrent.
The current process of commutations and pardons was put in place in the 1990’s after then Gov. Richard Celeste signed more than 30 commutations on his way out. Prosecutors say that was intended to prevent mass commutations from happening again.
The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association has denounced the planned commutations.
"It's been our position that the death penalty is the law of the state of Ohio. We should find a way to enforce it," said TPA executive director Lou Tobin in an interview. "We think the reasons that he's expressed for not enforcing it don't hold water, but be that as it may, I mean that this process of now starting clemency, starting a clemency process in a number of death penalty cases during the last two months of his administration is extremely troubling."
"We've been concerned that he could do something like this, but again, I think it raises a variety of concerns," Tobin said. "Why wait until the last month of the administration to do this? What was the criteria that was used to select this specific group of people to begin the clemency process?"
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has long opposed the death penalty as "irreparably broken". The group released a statement that reads in part: "We are grateful that no executions have been carried out during Governor DeWine's eight years in office, but as his term is coming to an end, we are hopeful that his evolved stance on the death penalty will inform his final acts in office."
The ACLU also cited a report from Ohioans to Stop Executions that said for every 5 people executed in Ohio, another one is found innocent.
"Executing an innocent person is not a risk we should be willing to take, and we hope Governor DeWine is seriously weighing that risk," the ACLU said. "Clemency is an act of justice."
