GOP Gov DeWine urges Ohio to abolish the death penalty, says it is no longer a deterrent
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, on Tuesday announced support for abolishing capital punishment in his state, reaffirming his change of heart on the policy he helped write as a...
By Fox News · Fox News
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine , a Republican, on Tuesday announced support for abolishing capital punishment in his state, reaffirming his change of heart on the policy he helped write as a legislator 45 years ago to reinstate the death penalty in Ohio. DeWine, who has repeatedly postponed executions during his time as governor, pointed to data showing that the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to violent crime. "For the state to take a human life, there must, in my opinion, there must be evidence that in doing so it will help protect the public, that the threat of that action will deter someone from committing murder," DeWine said at a news conference. "I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change," he said. "Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty." TEXAS LAWMAKER PROPOSES BILL TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY IN LONE STAR STATE: 'I THINK SENTIMENT IS CHANGING' As he made his case, DeWine brought out charts and graphs showing the decline in both the number of death sentences handed down by courts and the quantity of executions being carried out. The data also showed the exceedingly long wait times as legal appeals play out for inmates on death row. The governor said condemned murderers are increasingly unlikely to be executed, as they sometimes die by natural causes or by suicide before they can be executed. "Even if the murderer is caught, indicted, convicted and sentenced to death, the odds are still pretty good they’re not going to be executed," he said. "In summary, each decade that the death penalty has been in effect, the chances of a murderer getting executed get more and more and more remote," he added. The last 10 people to be executed in Ohio had been on death row between 14 and 32 years, he said. Since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1981 under a law co-written by DeWine, 56 people who received th…