DeWine moves to clear Ohio's death row before leaving office
Photo: ABC News (file photo)Gov. Mike DeWine is considering whether to remove people from Ohio's death row before he leaves office in January — and the Ohio Parole Board has already started moving cases forward, scheduling December clemency hearings for at least five death-row prisoners.
The Parole Board notified county prosecutors that it will review the cases of at least five people on death row in the coming weeks. It scheduled clemency hearings in December for Denny Obermiller, Melvin Bonnell, Freddie McNeill and Stanley Jalowiec, according to prosecutors' offices in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. The board will also interview Victoria Drain in mid-December, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said. At the same time, the board abandoned plans to look at three death penalty cases in Hamilton County.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the governor is weighing the cases one by one. "He is looking at things on a case-by-case basis," Tierney said. "This is nothing blanket." He said the governor routinely considers clemency, but acknowledged "there's a higher volume now" as DeWine approaches the end of his final term.
The move comes months after DeWine called on state lawmakers to end the death penalty, arguing the system is slow, expensive and doesn't deter crime. Ohio has not executed anyone since 2018, before DeWine took office.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which has urged DeWine to issue commutations for people on death row who have exhausted their judicial appeals, welcomed the news on Monday. "Executing an innocent person is not a risk we should be willing to take, and we hope Gov. DeWine is seriously weighing that risk," the organization said in a statement. "Clemency is an act of justice."
Prosecutors pushed back on the pace. "The commutation process typically takes months and provides prosecutors, the victim's family and the public ample opportunity to express their concerns," said Lou Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. "Doing this in the short amount of time before he leaves office raises serious questions about whether he is honoring the state's obligations to the victims of these crimes and to the public."
DeWine cannot make any clemency decisions until he receives a recommendation from the Parole Board. Earlier this year, he commuted the death row sentence of Gregory Lott to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has not yet acted on the board's recommendation for Tyrone Noling, who maintains his innocence in the 1990 murders of an elderly Portage County couple. The board suggested Noling's sentence be commuted to life in prison with parole eligibility after Jan. 1, 2029.
The Ohio move follows a similar one in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom — who also leaves office in January — recently commuted the sentences of 548 people on death row. DeWine can exercise his clemency power until his last day in office, Jan. 11. Since he became governor in January 2019, he has received 2,252 clemency applications, granted 396 and denied 1,413, with 446 still pending.
Sources: The Columbus Dispatch, "Gov. Mike DeWine takes steps to remove people from death row" (Nov. 9, 2026, full text verified); ACLU of Ohio, "ACLU of Ohio Statement on Governor DeWine's Clemency Considerations" (Nov. 9, 2026, full text verified); Death Penalty Information Center, "Ohio Parole Board Recommends Commutation of Death Sentence for Tyrone Noling" (Aug. 26, 2026). Event date verified: the Parole Board notices and the ACLU statement are dated Monday, November 9, 2026, and confirmed by both sources.
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