Murderers who are found not guilty by reason of insanity can't be executed in Ohio, but other seriously mentally ill could face the death penalty. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports some lawmakers are trying to change that, and they're being led by a conservative Republican.
Killers with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bi-polar disorder, major depression, or delusional disorder could be executed in Ohio if they're convicted of murder but not determined to be insane.
Republican Sen. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati says people with those illnesses have diminished capacity to understand their crimes, so they should be spared lethal injection.
"Because it really does not serve any deterrence purpose to execute someone who was so seriously diminished mentally at the time of the crime - why are we doing that? What purpose is served?" said Seitz.
Seitz has bi-partisan support for his bill, which would require imprisonment but not execution for just those five illnesses, and that prosecutors would have ample opportunity to argue against those diagnoses.