Late Friday afternoon, Gov. Mike DeWine delayed the scheduled executions of three men incarcerated on death row, each by three years.
The original dates of execution for Keith LaMar, Scott Group, and Davel Chinn fell between Jan. 13, 2027, and March 18, 2027. LaMar was set for execution just two days after DeWine leaves office, and has maintained his innocence for decades, after being convicted of charges related to 1993 riots at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
“I’m governor until I’m not governor,” DeWine told reporters Monday. “My job is to do my job, next governor can do their job.”
He’s delayed every scheduled execution date since becoming governor in January 2019—some, more than once. His office has said the statewide moratorium has been due, in part, to pharmaceutical companies’ opposition to use of their products in the drug concoction that creates a lethal injection.
But DeWine recently came out and told Ohio lawmakers to abolish executions for good, saying the issue should go before the voters if the legislature decides not to act.
Prosecutors and lawmakers who are pro-death penalty have long criticized how DeWine has overseen the system.
Lou Tobin, the executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said Wednesday that DeWine “has already added eight years of undue delay to carrying out these sentences.”
“Now he’s adding undue delay beyond his term and hindering the ability of the next governor to enforce the law,” Tobin wrote in a statement. “These decisions should be left to the next governor.”
Among the arguments for and against executions, abolition proponents say innocent Ohioans could be executed, pointing to powerful stories of death row exonerees, while opponents say it’s often a crime deterrent reserved for “the worst of the worst.”
More than 100 men and one woman are incarcerated on death row in Ohio, according to Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections data.
Eight inmates have scheduled executions in 2027. LaMar, Group and Chinn are scheduled for execution between January and March 2030.
