Gov. Mike DeWine says there won’t be any executions in Ohio in the near future.
DeWine told reporters at an Ohio Associated Press event that a federal court has ruled Ohio’s existing death penalty drugs are cruel and unusual punishment. That's why he delayed the execution of Wayne Keith Hennessweeks ago.
And now DeWine says he has put executions on hold indefinitely.
“Ohio is not going to execute somebody on my watch when Ohio has found it to be cruel and unusual punishment," DeWine says.
DeWine says he’s asked the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to come up with different execution drugs. And once the department does that, he says the method will have to undergo legal challenges. Only after that, he says, will executions resume in Ohio.
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