The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new local Ohio article headlined "House speaker’s support of death penalty is being tested." Here are excerpts:
Amid Ohio’s difficulty in securing a legal means of execution, House Speaker Larry Householder says he is becoming “less and less supportive” of the death penalty. The Republican from Glenford addressed the topic on Tuesday morning following a Statehouse press conference when asked if he continues to back capital punishment for some convicted killers.
“I think I am probably like most Ohioans, there was a time that I was extremely supportive of the death penalty,” Householder said in a video of his remarks posted on Twitter by the Statehouse News Bureau.
“But, as time has gone on, I have become less and less supportive because of the cost, for one,” the speaker said. “It is extremely expensive to put someone to death in lieu of keeping them in life in prison. And, also, it’s becoming more and more difficult to do an execution ... we’ve gone from electrocution to lethal injection, now there are issues being raised about lethal injection. It’s just become more and more difficult to do and it’s more and more expensive,” Householder said.
With a federal judge signaling Ohio’s current lethal injection protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration has been unable to secure different drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have threatened to cut off their sales of drugs to the state for Medicaid patients, state prisoners and others if their drugs are used in an execution, DeWine said.
DeWine has met with Householder and Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, to discuss the death-penalty stalemate and explore whether the state should adopt an alternate means of execution. The governor had said he is uncertain whether legislation will emerge this fall when legislators return to adopt another execution method, such as lethal gas.
DeWine has twice delayed the execution of convicted Columbus killer Warren Henness. Ohio’s next two executions are scheduled for Nov. 13 and Dec. 11. Following only one execution over roughly the past two years, Ohio has killed 56 men since executions resumed in 1999. Death Row currently houses 137 men and one woman.
I have long believed that most support for the death penalty is fairly shallow and that most politicians are inclined to take their lead on this issue from public sentiments. In recent years, public support for the death penalty seems to be growing ever weaker; add administrative headaches and lots of litigation concerning execution methods, and these kinds of comments from state leaders become less surprising.
That all said, I would still be surprised to see serious legislative discussion of death penalty abolition in this (still red) state anytime soon. But maybe these comments will have a snowball effect.
A few (of many) prior recent related posts:
- New Ohio Gov puts halt to all executions until Ohio develops new execution method
- Ohio's new governor delays first scheduled execution under his watch based on concerns about lethal-injection drugs
- Highlighting, though Ohio's remarkable recent experience, a possible tipping point on midazolam as a lethal injection drug
- Ohio Governor officially postpones three more scheduled executions
- Reviewing Ohio's (now-suspended) execution realities
- Ohio officials apparently seeking to avoid any paper trail as it tries to reboot its machinery of death
- Ohio Gov DeWine now reportedly prepared to move forward with executions he delayed ... even without new lethal-injection protocol
- Amidst persistent difficulties with lethal injection drugs, Ohio legislator to propose use of fentanyl taken from drug busts for executions
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