Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine postpones 2 executions scheduled for 2023

Ohio’s unofficial death penalty moratorium will continue past Gov. Mike DeWine’s first term, based on a pair of reprieves for the first two executions of 2023 that were announced Friday.

The news follows DeWine’s decision a week ago to postpone the remaining execution scheduled for this year, pushing the October date for Quisi Bryan, convicted of killing a Cleveland police officer, to early in 2026.

The state’s last execution was July 18, 2018, when Ohio put to death Robert Van Hook for killing a man he met in a bar in Cincinnati in 1985.

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DeWine on Friday moved the execution of Antonio Franklin from Jan. 12 to Feb. 11, 2026. Franklin was sentenced to die for killing his grandparents and his uncle in Dayton in 1997.

DeWine also moved the execution of Stanley Fitzpatrick from Feb. 15 to April 16, 2026. Fitzpatrick was sentenced to die for killing his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter, and a neighbor, in Hamilton County in 2001.

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DeWine, a Republican, has attributed the need for the reprieves to the state’s ongoing inability to obtain drugs for lethal injection from pharmaceutical companies.

Nine men are still scheduled for execution next year though more reprieves are expected.