‘The quality of mercy is not strained’
“The quality of mercy is not strained… It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes… And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice.”
There are 128 prisoners on Ohio’s death row. A bipartisan effort is underway in the Ohio legislature to end the death penalty. Senators Steve Huffman, Michelle Reynolds, Nickie Antonio and Hearcel Craig have introduced legislation in the Ohio Senate to end state-sponsored executions. They point out the expense, the impossibility of finding drugs for lethal injections, and the possibility of executing innocent people warrant the end of the death penalty. These senators and these efforts are to be commended for speaking the plain truth about state sanctioned murder and trying to end it.
With bipartisan support, it’s time to stop Ohio from executing people
“As a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, I personally witnessed 21 executions and wrote about dozens of others. I maintained an objective point of view throughout 44 years in journalism, the last 33 years in Columbus. I kept my opinions to myself in print and in person.
“But after I left journalism, and not coincidentally after I went to theology school, I became convicted that the death penalty was morally, spiritually, ethically, and financially wrong. All life is sacred.”
Lawmakers call for an end to capital punishment in Ohio. Again.
“I believe it’s indeed time for the state of Ohio to take the pragmatic, economically prudent, principled step to end capital punishment, which has been found to be expensive, impractical, unjust, inhumane and in the past even erroneous,” [Nickie] Antonio said Tuesday at a statehouse news conference. She noted 11 people on Ohio Death Row have been exonerated.
Ohio lawmakers from both parties have tried to end the death penalty. Could the latest effort succeed?
A group of Ohio lawmakers once again is introducing legislation that would abolish the state’s death penalty. But it remains to be seen whether they will get farther this session than with previous attempts, which went nowhere.
“On Tuesday, a group of Ohio senators are set to unveil their latest attempt to stop executions, which resumed in Ohio 24 years ago”
Local legislator again plans bipartisan push to end death penalty in Ohio
“Tipp City Republican state Sen. Steve Huffman and a group of fellow legislators are again trying to abolish the death penalty in Ohio.
“Huffman, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, Senate Assistant Minority Leader Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, and Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, announced Friday they will hold a press conference Tuesday to lay out the new legislation.”
‘Dead Man Walking’ author issues a call to action to Ohio’s faith leaders to end the death penalty
“Sister Helen Prejean, author of the 1993 book ‘Dead Man Walking’ and internationally known advocate for the abolishment of the death penalty issued a ‘call to action’ to Ohio’s faith leaders to work to end capital punishment in the state…
“Prejean said the death penalty is ‘riddled with race’ and a ‘continuation of the legacy of slavery in this country.'”
Read more about Sister Helen Prejean’s Ohio event on cleveland.com
Making Room for Opposing the Death Penalty on the Evangelical Agenda
EJUSA Evangelical Network’s Sam Heath talks to Columbus Vineyard’s Pastor Rich Nathan. “Nathan has brought the light of the gospel to this city as a pastor for 34 years, until stepping into a pastoral training role in 2021. His journey to a large and thriving 8,000-member congregation spans four decades, and part of that story culminates with a staunch advocacy to repeal the death penalty.”
Ohio’s death penalty disproportionately affects Black men
“Over a hundred years ago, at a site a little under 50 miles from where I live, an angry mob of white people showed up, guns in hand, to the jail cell of Henry Corbin. Corbin had been accused of killing a white woman– an accusation he and his family flatly denied. Without any due process, this mob took it upon themselves to enact so-called justice, hanging Corbin from a tree and filling his body with over 400 bullets…”
Read the rest of the op-ed by NAACP-Ohio’s Tom Roberts in the Dayton Daily News here
The death penalty does nothing to keep us safe. Let’s end it now.
“I was a 35-year-old military veteran working for the U.S. Postal Service in Phoenix when my life was turned upside down. I was arrested and charged for a crime I knew nothing about. My trial only lasted four days and the jury convicted me after deliberating for only four hours. A Maricopa County, Arizona judge sentenced me to death…”
Read the rest of death row exoneree Ray Krone’s op-ed in the Athens Messenger here.
Activist group is optimistic about ending death penalty in Ohio
“We had a lot of progress last year,” said Cohen. “We had the most bipartisan support that we’ve ever received for death penalty repeal. And the bills went the farthest in the process that they’ve ever gone.”
Read more of WOSU 89.7 NPR’s interview with OTSE’s Allison Cohen here