Welcome to Ohioans to Stop Executions

Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) is actively working to end the death penalty in Ohio. OTSE is a non-profit engaging community organizations, faith leaders, students, teachers, and regular citizens in a thoughtful dialogue about Ohio's death penalty. OTSE provides educational resources and information about the manner in which Ohio's death penalty is administered.

OTSE is a unique organization that fosters the relationships between groups and individuals of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and experiences who all share a common goal in the value of abandoning the practice of capital punishment.

We are proud to be the single-issue organization working statewide to abolish Ohio's death penalty. There's much to learn about the work we do and those on whose behalf we advocate. We invite to stay a while and look around.

Breaking news: Ohio Supreme Court to examine death penalty

The Associate Press is reporting that Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor will assemble a panel of experts to examine the way Ohio's death penalty system is working.

Click here for more.

Board member receives criminal defense bar's top honor

Ohians to Stop Executions board member William R. Gallagher was honored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on August 5, 2011. Bill was selected as the recipient of the 31st annual Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award, the most prestigious award given by the NACDL.

Congratulations Bill!

Click here for more.

Stay of execution granted

US District Court Judge Gregory Frost issued a stay of execution to Kenneth Smith on Friday, July 8th. Smith was scheduled to be executed on July 19, 2011 for the 1995 murders of Lewis and Ruth Ray.

The ruling made by Judge Frost said that Ohio's execution procedures are a "haphazard application" of its death penlaty protocol. He also wrote, "Ohio pays lip service to standards it then often ignores without valid reasons, sometimes with no physical ramifications and sometimes with what have been described as messy if not botched executions."

The Columbus Dispatch has more on this story. Click here to read the article.

Governor Kasich commutes Shawn Hawkins' death sentence

Governor John Kasich commuted the death sentence of Shawn Hawkins to life without the possibility of parole. Shawn was scheduled to be executed next Tuesday, June 14, 2011. The commutation comes in the wake of a unanimous recommendation by the Ohio Parole Board that clemency be granted to Hawkins.

Ohioans to Stop Executions commends Governor Kasich's decision to grant clemency. We are grateful the governor thought carefully about the circumstances surrounding Shawn's conviction and particularly those factors which undeniably raise grave doubt about the circumstances of this case.

Our thoughts and prayers today are with the Hawkins family and the families of Diamond Marteen and Terrance Richard.

In the news

New legal approach to death row inmate

91.7 WVXU, the local NPR affiliate in Cincinnati reported a story about a new legal strategy for Daniel Bedford, who is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, May 17th.

Attorneys for Daniel Bedford say he has no memory of the crime due to a severe mental illness. According to the story, Bedford will take his case to a Hamilton County Judge by filing a civil suit to attempt to have his mental retardation claims heard.

"Mr. Bedford, who has a severe mental illness, dementia, multi-infarct dementia, and suffers impairments because of that, has no memory of his crime."

Federal public defender's office attorney Carol Wright

The complete story from 91.7 WVXU's Ann Thompson is here, including audio.

Abolition bill introduced

State Representatives Nickie Antonio (Cleveland) and Ted Celeste (Columbus) introduced an abolition bill on March 15, 2011. The bill has 12 co-sponsors from both political parties. The bill's introduction was proposed as a way to save on costs and as part of the state budget considerations.

Based on the most conservative death penalty cost numbers from states which have studies costs, Ohio could eliminate more than $330 million in spending by abandoning the practice of capital punishment.

The bill has been assigned to the House Criminal Justice Committee and hearings are expected in June.

Executions scheduled

Ohio has executions scheduled into 2013. The following is the 2011-2013 execution schedule:

Frank Spisak, executed February 16, 2011 (Cuyahoga County)

Johnnie Baston, executed March 10, 2011 (Lucas County)

Clarence Carter, executed April 12, 2011 (Hamilton County)

Daniel Bedford, executed May 17, 2011 (Hamilton County)

Shawn Hawkins, clemency granted 6/8/11 (Hamilton County)

Kenneth Smith, Stay of execution granted July 8, 2011 (Butler County)

Brett Hartman, August 16, 2011 (Summit County)

Billy Slagle, September 20, 2011 (Cuyahoga County)

Joseph Murphy, October 18, 2011 (Marion County)

Reginald Brooks, November 15, 2011 (Cuyahoga County)

Charles Lorraine, January 18, 2012 (Trumbull County)

Michael Webb, February 22, 2012 (Clermont County)

Mark Wiles, April 18, 2012 (Portage County)

Abdul Awkal, June 6, 2012 (Cuyahoga County)

John Eley, July 26, 2012 (Mahoning County)

Donald Palmer, September 20, 2012 (Belmont County)

Petitions

Click on the links below to sign petitions for the above-mentioned men who are scheduled to be executed:

Kenneth Smith

You can also contact Governor Kasich and let him know you want him to grant clemency by sending him a message. On the Governor's website, there is a link to tell the governor how you would fix Ohio. Let Governor Kasich know he can fix Ohio's budget by eliminating the death penalty.

Get Involved

Donate

Issues

Ohioans to Stop Executions, 215 E. 14th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 513-543-1585