Statehouse News Bureau

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Leader Of Ohio House Says Death Penalty Might Be Unenforceable

By Jo Ingles

Published December 19, 2019 at 7:04 PM EST

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder talks to reporters [Dan Konik] — Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder talks to reporters

The leader of the Ohio House says lawmakers are in a quandary when it comes to the death penalty.

Ohio’s lethal injection method has been put on hold by courts. And Gov. Mike DeWine delayed all executions in 2019, saying it’s difficult for the state to get the drugs to carry it out. Speaker Larry Householder says there have been discussions about which method could replace lethal injections.

“Well, I don’t think hanging, that we would probably want to come back to hanging. I don’t think shootings would be good. Electrocution is sort of off the table. I don’t know what the method would be," Householder says.

The state could get rid of the death penalty altogether. Householder says there aren't good options.

“Is there an option? We don’t know that there is another option right now. We might have a law in place for a death penalty that we cannot carry out," Householder explains.

There are currently 140 inmates on death row. Of those, 24 menhave been scheduled to die by 2023.