Seventeen people were executed during former Governor Ted Strickland’s four years in office. Now he is officially joining the effort to repeal capital punishment.
Strickland said he is glad that he put the death sentence aside for death row inmate Jeffrey Hill who Strickland continues to believe could be innocent. And he says Hill is likely not the only innocent man on death row.
“And it’s that reason, more than any other, I think we should eliminate the death penalty and I regret the fact that I hadn’t taken that position when I became governor.”
He and State Sens. Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) are all backing a bill from State Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) to replace the death penalty with life without parole. It’s a bill she’s introduced four times since 2011 but it has never gone anywhere. Gov. Mike DeWine has delayed all executions since taking office last year, saying he won’t put access to medications for state programs at risk just to acquire lethal injection drugs.
