The Ohio Supreme Court has added a new inmate to the execution schedule – though Gov. Mike DeWine has delayed four executions until a new way to carry them out is developed.
DeWine says the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is moving on his order to work up a new lethal injection method.
“We expect to have a protocol to submit to the court sometime in the next several weeks.”
DeWine said earlier this year that no executions will proceed on his watch until the state has a procedure that can stand up to federal court scrutiny. Ohio has had several problematic executions, and like other states has struggled to find drugs that can be used for executions. And as for talk of other methods to put killers to death: “Current Ohio law does not allow for any other kind of execution other than through lethal injection.”
Twenty-three inmates have been scheduled for execution through 2023.
The latest is 54-year old Scott Group, who was convicted of killing Robert Lozier during a robbery at the Youngstown bar Group delivered to. Lozier's wife, Sandra, was also shot but survived and testified against Group at trial. The state Supreme Court set Group's execution date for July 10, 2024.
