Ohio Executions: Process, Appeals, and Current Moratorium

The Ohio death penalty is still on the books, but no execution has taken place in the state since July 2018. Ohio law authorizes lethal injection for aggravated murder when the prosecution proves at least one aggravating circumstance, yet the state has not carried out a sentence in nearly eight years because pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell the drugs. Governor Mike DeWine has kept an unofficial moratorium going with repeated reprieves, and as of May 2026, 109 people sit on Ohio’s death row with no realistic execution date.¹

Why Executions Have Stopped

The reason isn’t a court ruling or a repeal. It’s supply. Major pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical suppliers, including Pfizer, Fresenius Kabi, and Johnson & Johnson, have barred corrections departments from buying their products for use in executions. Fresenius Kabi has threatened to seize all of its products from any corrections facility caught using them for lethal injection, and the company sued Nebraska in 2018 over unauthorized purchases. The European Union has restricted the export of these drugs to the United States since 2011.

Governor DeWine has responded by issuing reprieve after reprieve, pushing execution dates back years at a time. The Ohio Senate has described this pattern as an “unofficial moratorium.”² DeWine is term-limited and leaves office in January 2027, so the next governor inherits both the procurement problem and a death row full of people with no clear path to carrying out their sentences.

Crimes That Can Bring a Death Sentence

Ohio reserves capital punishment for a single offense: aggravated murder under Ohio Revised Code 2903.01.³ A conviction by itself is not enough. The state has to prove at least one aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt.⁴

The circumstances that most often make a case death-eligible in Ohio include:

The victim was a law enforcement officer performing their duties or targeted because of their role.
The killing was carried out for payment or other financial gain.
The victim was killed to prevent testimony in a criminal case or in retaliation for it.
The murder occurred during a kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, or aggravated burglary.
The offense involved two or more deaths, or the defendant had a prior conviction for purposefully killing someone.

Others exist in the statute, but these account for the majority of capital charges.

How a Death Sentence Is Decided

If the jury finds at least one aggravating circumstance, the case moves into a separate penalty phase. The defense presents mitigating evidence, and Ohio’s statute lists seven categories the jury has to weigh:

The victim helped provoke or facilitate the offense.
The defendant acted under duress, coercion, or strong provocation.
A mental disease or defect limited the defendant’s ability to understand the wrongfulness of their conduct.
The defendant’s youth at the time of the crime.
A lack of significant prior criminal history.
The defendant’s degree of involvement, if they participated but were not the principal offender.
Any other relevant factor the defendant raises.

The last category matters. It lets the defense present almost anything about the defendant’s background, upbringing, or mental health.⁴ A death sentence can only be imposed when the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating ones beyond a reasonable doubt. That standard traces back to Lockett v. Ohio (1978), which held that a capital jury must be free to weigh every relevant aspect of a defendant’s character and circumstances.⁵ Capital trials cost Ohio roughly three times what a murder case ending in life without parole does.

Appeals and How Long They Take

Every death sentence in Ohio goes automatically to the Ohio Supreme Court under Ohio Revised Code 2929.05. The court independently weighs the aggravating and mitigating factors and checks whether the sentence is proportionate to sentences in similar cases. The review happens by operation of law; the defendant does not have to file anything to trigger it.

If the Ohio Supreme Court affirms, the defendant can petition the U.S. Supreme Court and then move into state post-conviction proceedings, raising claims like newly discovered evidence or ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Once state options run out, a death row inmate can file a federal habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Federal courts set a high bar: relief is available only if the state court’s decision was contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent or based on an unreasonable reading of the facts, and factual findings are presumed correct unless rebutted by clear and convincing evidence.⁶

The full cycle from sentencing through federal habeas review routinely takes 15 to 25 years. That is why people sentenced decades ago still sit on Ohio’s death row without ever coming close to an execution date.

When Execution Is Off the Table for Constitutional Reasons

Two rules can bar an execution even after a valid sentence and exhausted appeals. Under Atkins v. Virginia (2002), executing a person with an intellectual disability violates the Eighth Amendment. Hall v. Florida (2014) rejected strict IQ cutoffs, and Moore v. Texas (2017) required states to rely on accepted medical diagnostic standards rather than stereotypes.

Under Ford v. Wainwright (1986), the state cannot execute a prisoner who is unable to understand that they are being executed or why. If competency is in question, the prisoner has a due process right to a fair hearing that isn’t decided solely by the executive branch.⁷

How Ohio Executes When It Does

Ohio law requires execution by lethal injection, described only as “a drug or combination of drugs of sufficient dosage to quickly and painlessly cause death.”⁸ The specific chemicals live in a separate 21-page administrative protocol, DRC Policy 01-COM-11, maintained by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The current protocol uses three drugs in sequence. Midazolam, a sedative, is meant to render the person unconscious. Rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, stops all muscular movement. Potassium chloride stops the heart. Two IV lines are established so there is a backup route. Executions take place at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, and the process from the start of the drugs to the pronouncement of death typically runs between 10 and 30 minutes.¹

The protocol shifted after one deeply troubled execution. In January 2014, Dennis McGuire was put to death using midazolam combined with hydromorphone, a painkiller. The combination had never been used before. Witnesses reported that McGuire gasped, choked, and struggled for roughly 10 minutes before dying. That episode intensified legal challenges to lethal injection nationwide, pushed Ohio toward its current drug combination, and helped drive the pharmaceutical industry to cut off supply.

What Could Change

Two bills in Ohio’s 136th General Assembly point in opposite directions. Senate Bill 134 would abolish the death penalty, convert existing sentences to life without parole, and ban public funds from being used to buy lethal injection drugs.⁹ As of 2026, it sits in a Senate committee with no floor vote scheduled.

House Bill 36 would add nitrogen hypoxia as an authorized method, following Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.¹⁰ Supporters call it a practical answer to the drug shortage. Critics point to Alabama’s first nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024, which also drew reports of prolonged movement and distress.

Neither bill appears likely to pass this session. That leaves Ohio in the same position it has occupied since 2018: new death sentences continue to be handed down, appeals grind forward, and no one is executed. Whether that changes depends largely on the governor who takes office in January 2027.

1
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Death Row
2
Ohio Senate. Antonio Commends Governor DeWine’s Decision to Delay Executions
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2903.01 – Aggravated Murder
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2929.04 – Death Penalty or Imprisonment – Aggravating and Mitigating Factors
5
Justia U.S. Supreme Court. Lockett v Ohio, 438 US 586 (1978)
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2254 – State Custody; Remedies in Federal Courts
7
Justia U.S. Supreme Court. Ford v Wainwright, 477 US 399 (1986)
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2949.22 – Method of Execution of Death Sentence
9
Ohio Legislature. Senate Bill 134, 136th General Assembly
10
Ohio Legislature. House Bill 36, 136th General Assembly