Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow the state to execute people using nitrogen gas.
The legislation , introduced by state Reps. Brian Stewart (R) and Phil Plummer (R) and backed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R), “is aimed at kickstarting the state’s stalled capital-punishment system,” Yost’s office said in a press release .
If passed, the bill would allow people on death row to choose between execution by lethal injection or nitrogen gas, but it would require nitrogen to be used if lethal injection drugs were not available.
“Ensuring that the consequences align with the severity of an offense is essential to providing solace to grieving relatives,” Yost said ― although in reality, some victims of crime oppose the death penalty .
Death Penalty Action co-founder Abe Bonowitz accused Yost of “grandstanding on the pain of [murder victims’] families rather than actually doing something to help them.”
Ohio has not executed anyone since 2018. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said in 2020 that lethal injection executions were “ no longer an option ,” after a federal magistrate judge compared the state’s execution process to a combination of waterboarding, suffocation and exposure to chemical fire.