Ohio has only paid lip service to the 56 recommendations of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio’s Death Penalty. A recent report found:

“The death penalty in Ohio remains plagued by the very same flaws that led to its subsequent invalidation in 1978. The arbitrariness continues. The racial and geographic disparity continues. Perhaps most significant, the system’s propensity to condemn the innocent to die is far worse than anyone imagined…
It is unfortunate that the [Task Force] recommendations that will do the most to curtail unfairness and bias in Ohio’s capital punishment system have yet to be discussed in any legislative forum.”

Jeffrey Wogenstahl’s case provides very troubling examples of the ease with which the system can condemn the innocent (see information about his case here). Even supporters of the death penalty want the system to be fair and accurate: the Ohio death penalty is neither.

We urge Ohio residents to write to Governor Kasich, asking him to stay all pending executions until the recommendations of the Supreme Court’s Task Force have been considered and implemented by the legislature. You can do this on the Ohioans to Stop Executions’ website.

If you are not a resident of Ohio, you can use the Contact the Governor form to make the same request (for Issue, select Rehabilitation and Correction).

Thank you.