COLUMBUS — The pattern of postponing Ohio executions for lack of access to the preferred drugs for lethal injection continued Friday as Gov. Mike DeWine issued reprieves for two that had been set for later this year.
Timothy L. Hoffner, convicted of conspiring with Archie J. Dixon to bury Christopher Hammer, 22, alive in a wooded area in Sylvania Township in 1993, had been set to die June 18. That has now been pushed to July 14, 2027.
The execution of John David Stumpf, convicted of killing Mary Jane Stout during a robbery in her home near New Concord, was postponed from Aug. 13 of this year to Aug. 18, 2027.
These aren’t the first delays these inmates have seen.
No execution has been carried out since 2018 before Mr. DeWine took office because drug manufacturers have refused to make the state’s approved drugs for lethal injection available if they might be used to put someone to death.
Some House Republicans recently proposed adding nitrogen gas as an option after Alabama completed an execution using that method. Condemned inmates would be given a choice between the two, but nitrogen would be the default method if the drugs remain unavailable.