Ohio Senator Steve Huffman Cosponsors Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Death Penalty

COLUMBUS - Today State Senator Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) joined Minority Leader Nickie Antonio in sponsoring a bill that would repeal Ohio’s death penalty.

“As a devout Catholic I believe that the power to end a life should only lie in God’s hands,” said Senator Huffman. “As a medical doctor, I believe that life begins at conception and ends when the Lord decides the day.”

Currently, the death penalty is on hold as the lethal combination of drugs remains difficult to secure or remains unavailable from vendors and companies that manufacture the drugs. 

In 2019, Governor DeWine stopped executions based on a federal judge’s order to perform a thorough review of Ohio’s death penalty procedures. The Governor has been clear that there will be no more executions unless the General Assembly changes the process for carrying them out. 
 
“A life sentence is the end of one’s life and freedom outside the cold walls of a prison,” said Senator Huffman. “Wilford Berry understood that, and volunteered to be the first person executed in Ohio in 36 years in 1999 after Ohio reinstated the death penalty. To him, prison was far worse than lethal injection.”

The repeal currently has 12 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate and will be introduced later this week.