COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some Republican lawmakers in the statehouse are proposing an alternative method of enforcing death sentences in Ohio, and the suggestion is raising some concerns about its ethical implications.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio has 118 inmates on death row

  • Some lawmakers are proposing using nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection after Alabama carried out the first death sentence in the United States through nitrogen hypoxia

  • An animal cruelty bill signed into law last year prohibits euthanizing pets with any gas not used as an anesthesia

Last week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost joined lawmakers and members of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association to propose a new law that would make nitrogen hypoxia an approved way to execute inmates on death row.

Gov. Mike DeWine's office said threats from drug companies vowing to stop selling any products in Ohio if they suspected their materials were used in executions put the process on pause after the state's last execution in 2018. At this time, 118 people are sitting on the state's death row. 

The proposal follows the state of Alabama’s use of the gas to execute a convicted murder.

But last year, DeWine signed into law an animal cruelty bill banning euthanizing pets with any gas not used as an anesthesia, like nitrogen. That prompted opponents of the newly proposed bill to question its use on humans.

“That in and of itself does not make that execution inhumane or unconstitutional,” said  Michael Benza, Case Western Reserve University School of Law Professor. “In fact, the court has repeatedly pointed out that an amount of suffering, even a significant amount of suffering, is not what is prohibited by the constitution.”

A different proposed bill is also routing through the statehouse that would abolish the death penalty altogether.

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