The Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost spoke to the Ohio House Judiciary Committee in a YouTube video posted Oct. 8, to increase active voting of House Bill 36.
House Bill 36 would permit the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution for those facing the death penalty and prohibit the disclosure of execution identifying information. Nitrogen hypoxia is achieved by filling a mask with nitrogen gas while the person wearing the mask suffocates on the gas, causing their death.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, nitrogen hypoxia poses significant risks because it is less effective if oxygen leaks into the mask. If the mask does not administer 100% pure nitrogen gas, the person being executed can be left in a vegetative state, which can lead to a stroke or painful suffocation.
Additionally, EJI indicates nitrogen hypoxia can be dangerous for prison employees, as nitrogen, due to its colorless and odorless nature, could leak and cause asphyxiation in a matter of minutes.
During a 2020 interview with the Associated Press, Governor Mike DeWine commented Ohio has an "unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment. DeWine requested the Ohio legislature to look into alternative methods of execution, other than lethal injection. However, he mentioned revisiting capital punishment guidelines was not a priority in the legislation at the time.
DeWine postponed three executions and said he does not anticipate any more executions to occur during the remainder of his governorship, as reported by the AP in February. The three executions, which were scheduled to occur in 2025, have been rescheduled to 2028.
During Yost’s address supporting the bill, he drove home the importance of having a possible method of execution.
“The current impasse of inaction demeans the very idea of representative democracy, the rule of law,” Yost said in the video.
Yost explains to the committee by not enacting any type of change on the bill, the state fails the families of the victims and the jurors who passed the judgment for capital punishment for the prisoners.
“Our inaction on the death penalty has created a dishonorable situation,” Yost claimed in the video.
Oct. 1 was the second judiciary hearing of House Bill 36, the first occurring March 5 earlier this year, according to the bill’s timeline.
Yost’s comments focused on the duty of Ohio’s legislature to permit executions to continue. He explained private pharmaceutical companies are overriding public policy and deciding which drugs to sell to the state.
“They (drug companies) are defying the law that this body enacted,” Yost told the committee. “Representing the people of Ohio, they are defying your authority.”
In 2019, DeWine announced the state was unable to procure the necessary drugs from pharmaceutical companies. The companies claimed they may impose a sales embargo on any government agency that uses their drugs for any reason other than therapeutic use.
If the state is unable to obtain the drugs, treatment of patients at veterans' homes and alcohol addiction services, among other programs, could be negatively impacted, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Lucy Papini, an Ohio University freshman studying political science, spoke on her opinions surrounding the death penalty and H.B. 36. Papini explains the importance of appeals and worries about innocent people facing the death penalty.
“Death is just so final and there’s no going back from that,” Papini said. “Whereas, with just keeping them in jail, you’re still keeping them alive, and they still continue to always have the ability to appeal or try and prove that they’re innocent.”
H.B. 36 is currently sitting in the House Judiciary Committee and has not been approved nor rejected by the committee since February.
