State Rep. Antonio Calls For An End To Ohio's Death Penalty In Wake Of Recent Legal Barriers

COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio’s new three-drug lethal injection has been under fire recently, resulting in the indefinite suspension of three planned executions of Ohio inmates, including one scheduled in February.

Today, House Democratic Whip Nickie Antonio, from Lakewood, responded to a ruling by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Michael Merz declaring Ohio’s new three-drug lethal injection process unconstitutional.

“When the proposed drugs for lethal injection are found to be unconstitutional because they may cause ‘substantial risk of serious harm’, it is immoral for the state to continue to fight to use them,” Antonio said in a press release. “I believe it is long past time we abolish the death penalty in Ohio and replace it with a sentence of life without parole.”

Antonio has repeatedly introduced legislation to end capital punishment and replace it with life without parole, citing research that shows the death penalty does not deter violent crime and is administered with disparities across economic and racial lines. In the 131st General Assembly, she sponsored Ohio House Bill 289 with Dayton-area Rep. Niraj Antani, a Republican from Miami Township, and plans to reintroduce the bill in the coming months.

Antani would not talk about his sponsorship of Ohio House Bill 287 or why he appears to be against the death penalty.